I love to cook.

Any one that truly knows me, knows I absolutely love to cook. I don't always get to do it every day, but I enjoy taking on new challenges of new recipes or techniques I've never tried before. Over the years, I've learned quite a few interesting things about cooking and equally interesting things about baking. (Of which I might add, cooking is entirely different than baking and I love both equally - though the baking part does yield "sweeter" rewards.)

So today's blog is over Rhubarb and the challenge I undertook this past weekend with making a home-made, totally from scratch, strawberry-rhubarb pie.

This adventure started with a trip to the local Farmer's Market this past weekend. Browsing around the booths and looking for interesting things, I found it when I came across a farmer that had rhubarb. I've been born and raised in the south, but honestly, I couldn't tell you whether or not rhubarb pie is a southern thing or a Midwestern thing. I did not grow up eating it but my husband did and he's from the Midwest  So maybe it's more indicative up there? Either way, when we saw the fresh rhubarb I was automatically intrigued. My husband automatically said, "Oh man, my grandma used to make rhubarb pie. It's so good." And thus, the challenge was born.



So the first thing to do after you get everything home and unloaded and the baby is all set and taken care of and your husband agrees to watch her to give you time to accomplish your task, is put on your apron!  The next thing to do is of course read through the recipe thoroughly at least once to get a sense for the process and the time involved and then I move on to assemble all of my ingredients so they are readily on hand.



The recipe I used was from here: http://www.joyofbaking.com/StrawberryRhubarbPie.html#ixzz2RDTEjL1e
She actually goes into depth on the instructions and I changed the recipe just slightly and did NOT do the lattice top that she does, though I think that would have been beautiful to do. She also has a video of how to make the pie. I looked at several recipes and decided to go with this one because it called for cornstarch over tapioca powder since I don't keep that on hand but I do cornstarch. So here's the recipe:


Pie Crust:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon granulated white sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, chilled, and cut into 1 inch chunks
1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water

Strawberry Rhubarb Filling:
1 pound rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 pound fresh strawberries, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 cup granulated white sugar (I used a sugar/stevia blend)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small chunks

You start with the pie crust, which using a food processor is quite easy to pull together. Add the flour, salt, sugar, butter and ice water to the food processor and pulse until it comes together into a crumbly mix. Mine required more water than 1/4 of a cup, but be careful because it's VERY easy to add too much water. (Add water one tablespoon at a time until you get the right consistency. 

Once the crust is made, chill it in the refrigerator for an hour and go take care of the baby because your husband has abandoned his post to go work on the yard and now you're back on Mommy-Duty. After a brief intermission, the time has flown by and not surprisingly, the pie crust is chilled and ready for use! With the baby momentarily entertained, I left the pie in the fridge and got to work on preparing my Filling ingredients. Wash the strawberries and rhubarb and get them all cut up and added to a medium size mixing bowl. Once I got the strawberries and rhubarb ready to rock and roll, I went about getting the crust situated next. 

To insure that you have enough crust for the top, divide it into two pieces. Start rolling out one for the bottom layer and pop the other half back in the fridge so it doesn't get too warm. I used a 9 inch pie plate, so you need to roll the dough until it's about 12 inches across. As you can see, mine isn't quite round. It doesn't have to be perfect, but mine needed a re-do. Be sure your surface and rolling pin are sprinkled lightly with flour to make sure things don't stick.

Once you've got your bottom crust ready to go, drape it over the rolling pin and transfer to your pie plate and trim off the excess. Now that you've got your crust in your pie plate, put it back in the fridge with the other half that you're going to use for the top while your finish assembling the filling - which really doesn't take too long since you've already got most of your prep work done. All you need to do are add the few remaining ingredients. Sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and lemon juice. (I omitted the extra butter she adds and as a stated before, I use a sugar/stevia bend for the sweetener.) Give those ingredients a toss in the bowl with your strawberry and rhubarb, but before you do, toss a couple of table spoons of the dry ingredients into the bottom of your pie shell.

Alright, now we're in the home stretch!....And one more intermission for the needs of the baby now. But on your way past the oven, go a head and pre-heat it to 400 degrees. (Nothing that a few toys and a diaper change won't fix. Back to the action!) Pour your mixing bowl, that's full of all the yummieness - yes, I'm quite sure that's an actual word - into your waiting pie shell. It will fill the pie shell slightly above the rim so it's mounded up. But never fear, it will reduce down a little bit as it bakes and you want all those yummy juices inside. (Plus, when you bake it you're going to put it on a baking sheet to catch anything that might over-flow. Let's be smart here people, what hard working mom actually wants the extra duty of cleaning the kitchen AND the oven after she's done? Take precautions and save yourself the extra effort!)

Now you're ready to roll out your top layer of pie crust the same way you did the bottom and assemble the whole pie together. Trim off the extra, crimp the edges with your fingers and Ta-da! Enjoy all the beauty of your almost-finished creation!

Pop that beauty in the already heated oven on almost the lowest rack. Sit back and enjoy a cup of tea while you wait for the final product. Or...you can start working on dinner while the baby is still magically occupied and happy. 

About 35 minutes later after a couple of quick checks, the beauty is here, but will she taste as good as she looks? It's best to let the pie cool on the counter for several hours before serving. (Be sure to store your left over's in the fridge.)

We of course couldn't wait 'several hours' to enjoy a bite. The pie was beckoning us. When it has had the proper amount of time to cool and set up, the filling won't leak out the sides as bad like it is in the photo. But, alas we could care less about the look at the moment, the taste was all that mattered. I asked my husband if he approved? He was too busy stuffing his mouth with another bite of pie to give me a verbal answer. So instead I got a "I'm in heaven" look and a slightly drugged-like nod. It very much measured up to the wonderfulness of his memories and expectations. Happy husband, happy life. Challenge complete. :-)