RHUBARB AND STRAWBERRY PIE

A few weeks ago, that great blog, Baking with Sibella,  http://bakingwithsibella.wordpress.com/ featured a beautiful rhubarb and strawberry galette. More recently, Sibella has shown us how to make a rhubarb and strawberry sauce. Such inspiration!

I remember days in my grandmother’s back yard in the spring. She had three very old and very large rhubarb plants growing under a huge cottonwood tree. The leaves of the rhubarb were enormous – and of course inedible – but the children would pick a stalk, pull off the outer rind, sprinkle a little salt, and then pucker up our mouths from the sour-salt taste. That was fun while we waited for the sweet rhubarb pie.

Rhubarb has been a feature of our local farmers market for several weeks, and strawberries are just now becoming available. It’s the beginning of summer, and I think of rhubarb as a harbinger of spring. Never mind that my seasons are messed up, rhubarb and strawberry pie seems like the perfect thing to bake right now, so here goes:

RECIPES

Pie Crust

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2/3 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/3 cup ice water

Method

• In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, and sugar. Then cut in the shortening with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles fine crumbs
• Stir in the ice water using a fork to combine. Pull together any loose crumbs, and pat the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Pie crust mix after cutting in the vegetable shortening

Rhubarb and Strawberry Filling

Stalks of rhubarb

Diced rhubarb

Ingredients

• 1½ cups sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups rhubarb (6 to 10 stalks, depending on siz), cut crosswise in ½ inch pieces
• 1 quart strawberries, washed and hulled

Fresh strawberries

Sliced strawberries

Method

• In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, salt, and vanilla extract.
• Add the rhubarb and strawberries. Mix well

Final Assembly

Ingredients

• pie dough and filling from above
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 egg white mixed with 1 tablespoon water
• 3 tablespoons turbinado sugar

Baked pie on the cooling rack

Method

• Preheat oven to 450°
• Remove the prepared pie dough from the refrigerator. Divide in half.
• Roll out one half of the dough into a circle large enough to line a 9 inch pie pan
• Roll out the remaining half of the dough for the top crust.
• Transfer the rhubarb and strawberry mixture to the empty pie shell.
• Dot the top of the filling with the butter and cover with the top crust. Crimp the edges of the pie and cut off any extra dough.
• Cut several vents in the top crust. Paint the top lightly with the egg white mixture using a pastry brush. Then sprinkle with the turbinado sugar.
• Bake at 450° for 15 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 350° for 40 minutes longer or until done. Be sure to have a pan on a lower shelf of the oven to catch any drips. If the edge of the crust gets too dark before the pie is baked, shield it with a ring of aluminum foil.
• Cool on a baking rack.

Ready to eat