Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie
I always associate rhubarb with Summers at my Nana and Papa’s; they’d pick a fresh stalk of rhubarb and hand it to me with a small dish of sugar to dip the end in. Nana would make what she called ‘Rubarberry,’ a sauce of strawberries, rhubarb, and sugar that she and Papa loved to have on toast. And Papa tried his hand at Rhubarb wine, along with his other wine-making experiments (his mainstay was the sweet red wine that bubbled in demijohns in his basement throughout the Autumn).
Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie has always been a favourite of mine, but somehow I never did get around to making it until this Spring, when we had a bounty of fresh rhubarb on our doorstep. It turned out beautifully, and even my mom, who famously doesn’t generally like any pie that isn’t Apple Pie liked it a lot.
If you’d like to make your own pie pastry (I recommend it! It’s easy!), you can check out my pastry recipe.
Seriously, though, just make your own damn pastry.
Ingredients
3 cups strawberries, sliced
3 cups rhubarb, sliced
1 cup sugar
1-2 tbs butter, cut into pieces and distributed throughout the filling
1/4 cup corn starch (approx, to thicken – feel free to use less)
1 tsp. almond extract (optional – all the old-timers say this is awesome, but I haven’t tried it yet)
Directions
- Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Combine ingredients in a large bowl.
- Mound mixture in the unbaked pie crust; don’t worry if there’s a little juice.
- Cover with pie crust top. Either use a lattice pattern for the top crust or cut slits in the whole top crust to allow steam to escape (a butter knife will manage it nicely if you’re careful).
- Place a piece of aluminum foil under the pie dish inside to oven to catch any overflow.
- Bake 15 minutes at 425 F, then reduce the temperature to 350 F and bake a further 50-60 minutes.
Serves 8 or so.
