By far, pie is my favorite dessert. For me, there really is nothing better than a slice of home baked pie with fruit that is in season. Many of the desserts I make in culinary school are too rich and sweet for me. A bite is typically all I can handle. One of my all time favorite pies is Strawberry Rhubarb.
Rhubarb is known for it's tart taste that adds an intense zing to fruits like strawberries, apples, peaches, and raspberries. I always get excited when it starts showing up in the markets during spring looking so vibrant and healthy because I love pies, crisps, cobblers and coffee cakes make with rhubarb. In fact, I think a few of my Baltimore friends will remember one evening two years ago in late May when I made a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie for a friend from South Africa who had never eaten pie, let alone rhubarb. Still to this day, that pie was the most delicious pie I've ever made. Not because I did anything different, but because the berries and rhubarb were absolutely perfect.
So, each spring, I always make at least one Strawberry Rhubarb Pie and hope it's half as good as the one we had in Baltimore. For this pie, I used my same old butter crust recipe (which can be found in the recipe section). Then, I tried a new filling recipe from Epicurious. I brought this pie to a cookout and everyone really loved it, including me. I really enjoyed the taste of golden brown sugar and cinnamon in it. So, I'd say it was a success. I didn't bake it as long as the recipe stated. I had it in on 400 for about 30 minutes, then 375 for about 40 or so. I really go by the look of the pie, rather than what recipes call for. Look for a nice golden brown color. And, the filling should be bubbling. The photo above is the pie before baking.
I seemed to have a lot of filling from this recipe. So, after filling the pie as high as I could, I made a few small crisps in ramekins with the extra.
For the filling:
3 1/2 cups of 1/2 inch thick slices of trimmed rhubarb
1 16-ounce container of strawberries, hulled and halved (about 3 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup packed golden brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 400 F. Combine first 7 ingredients in bowl. Toss gently to blend. Roll out one dough disk on floured surface to the size of your pie pan. Place in pie pan and trim the excess around the edges. Egg wash the bottom of the crust with beaten egg. Pour the filling into the crust. Roll out the second disk of dough. Cut into strips about 3/4" wide. Arrange one set of strips on the pie. Space them out evenly. Then form a lattice with the remaining strips. To form a lattice, it is just like weaving. There should be an over-under pattern. I should have really taken photos of the whole process and written my own steps. I will keep that in mind for a future lattice pie. For now, take a look at the Food Network's directions.
Once the lattice is finished and placed on top of the pie, trim and crimp the edges. Then, egg wash the whole top. Bake at 400 for about 25 minutes. Reduce temp to 375 and bake till golden and bubbling. Perhaps, this will take about another 45-60 minutes. Cool completely to let set.
