Thursday, July 1, 2010

summer strawberry rhubarb pie

i've recently been cooking (& baking) up a storm. funny how that happens when you have someone else to cook for! i always feel less inclined to spend the time on cooking just for myself, but enjoy spending a lot of time in the kitchen cooking for others. (sometimes i wonder if maybe i should have done something in culinary arts/nutrition). anyways, the gentleman i'm seeing has a strong affinity for rhubarb pie. having never tried it before, i did a little research & found out that it's season is very short lived! (june only!) rhubarb is very tart & only the stem is edible (the leaf is actually poisonous). so i thought i'd jump on the chance to treat him to a night of favorites - steak, potatoes & pie!

i also made homemade crust! (which i do not have a photo of, but here is the great recipe i found). note: the colder the crust, the flakier that it will be once it's baked!
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, very cold

mash together (much easier with something electronic). best if it sits in the refrigerator for one to two hours.

3 1/2 cups rhubarb, in 1/2-inch thick slices
3 1/2 cups strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup quick-cooking tapioca
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces






before

after


preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a well-floured counter, roll half of pie dough into a 12-inch circle and carefully transfer to a 9-inch pie plate.

stir together rhubarb, strawberries, sugars, lemon, salt and tapioca in a large bowl. mound filling inside bottom pie crust and dot with bits of unsalted butter. mix one large egg yolk beaten to blend with 1 teaspoon water (for glaze to make the pie gel together better). roll second half of pie dough into an 11-inch circle and cut decorative slits in it (this is the recipe i used, but i liked cutting strips better to make a design). trim top and bottom pie dough so that their overhang beyond the pie plate lip is only 1/2-inch. tuck rim of dough underneath itself and crimp it decoratively.

transfer pie to a baking sheet and brush egg yolk mixture over dough. bake for 20 minutes then reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 25 to 30 minutes, until the pie is golden and the juices bubble visibly.

Transfer pie to wire rack to cool. When full cool (several hours later) the juices gel.

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