Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie
To me, a good summer must include a pick-your-own strawberries adventure. And during my childhood, whenever we would come home from the strawberry patch with ten times the number of berries we could ever reasonably eat, it meant there would most certainly be pie. We had a big rhubarb bush growing in our backyard, and every year, sometime in June, the stars would align, and the rhubarb would be ready to harvest just as we were coming home with pounds upon pounds of strawberries. This inevitably meant we would be spending days in the kitchen making strawberry-rhubarb pie and jam––the work would be great, but so too would be the reward!
We are aware that rhubarb is…lesser-known. Many people don’t even know what the heck it is, let alone what it looks like. The best way I can describe it is red celery (with much less stringiness) that, if you roll it in sugar, tastes a bit like a crunchy sour patch kid. It’s perfect in strawberry pie, because it cuts some of the sweetness and adds a bit of a tart counterbalance. It’s far superior to plain strawberry pie, if you ask me. The best part is, I’m starting to see rhubarb crop up more and more in grocery stores. My local Albertson’s sells it, Trader Joe’s now has it seasonally, and I’ve heard tell of Whole Foods selling it in the frozen section. So this means it’s high time for us to share this recipe!
Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie
yield 1 9-inch pie
Ingredients:
- Two pie crusts, 1 rolled into pie dish and chilled, the other to be used for top
- 4 cups sliced strawberries
- 3 cups chopped rhubarb
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 tbsp minute tapioca
- 2 tbsp flour
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp butter, cut into small cubes
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp coarse sugar such as turbinado or demerara
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425º. Combine all filling ingredients except butter and egg. Pour into chilled bottom crust. Dot the top with butter. Roll out other pie crust, cut into strips and weave over the top in lattice pattern. Flute edges. In a small bowl, whisk egg with 1 tbsp water. Use pastry brush to brush the top of the pie with the egg wash. Sprinkle the top crust with coarse sugar. Bake at 425º for 15 minutes, then lower heat to 375º and bake another 45-50 minutes, or until filling starts to bubble up through holes in the top. Cover crust edges with foil if they are browning too quickly. Allow several hours too cool completely before serving, or else the filling will be runny. Serve with vanilla ice cream (this is non-negotiable!).
