This classic late spring / early summer flavor is a favorite combo, aaaaaand this is the first time I’ve ever made it.
This pie perfectly celebrates the arrival of summer by melding the two seasonal flavors that are both opposing yet perfectly complementary. The extreme sweet jammie-ness of the strawberries with the firm tartness of the Rhubarb come together so diametrically opposed, yet they cook down together perfectly highlighting their opposing contributions to the overall flavor.
The tartness of the Rhubarb brightens up the thick, sweetness of the strawberries. It’s the same concept of mixing tart and sweet… or even more exactly, the magic sweet and sour combination of sour patch kids candy.
Not surprising that they’re paired together as they’re in season together. Almost as if on cue, tables of strawberries and bunches of rhubarbs appear simultaneously at the NYC green market. In the NYC area, the rhubarb season is typically May to June, and Strawberries are the same period. Even though strawberries are available year-round thanks to large commercial hot house farming or importing from some far-off place (often international places), the local farm fresh strawberries are SOOOO much better than normal industrialized grocery store berries. They’re smaller, intensely flavored and so soft and delicate. Compare this to the large, crispy, firm and flavorless strawberries you normally find in the grocery store – and it’s almost a different fruit. Like me, if you were raised on the grocery store variety – you’ll remember the first time you ever savored a true farm fresh strawberry.
It wasn’t until I was a young adult that I experienced this intensely fragrant and candy-like strawberry – and it left me scratching my head thinking how on earth have we been duped into eating these other things that are passed off as strawberries?? WTF? They are so inferior to the true original small strawberry. Eating these strawberries is like eating candy… they’re juicy, sweet and addictive. In my opinion, bigger IS NOT better… so go for the smaller berries, they’ll have a more intense flavor – no matter the season. But, when your strawberry season rolls around – do not miss the opportunity to snatch up pint fulls at your local farmers market. This single realization years ago was literally one my major “Aha Moments” that got me thinking about food quality and the food industry… and how so often quality suffers for the good of mass production in the food industry, along the way robbing true flavor from all the unsuspecting and the uninitiated eating public.
INGREDIENTS:
Pie Dough
All Butter Pie Dough (base and top)
Strawberry Rhubarb Filling
2 1/2 cups / 300g / about 3/4 pound Rhubarb, chopped to about 1/2“ pieces
6 cups / 690-700g / 1 1/2 lb Fresh Strawberries, hulled and chopped
1 Cup / 220g Brown Sugar
4 Tablespoons / 30g Cornstarch
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Vanilla Bean Pod – scraped
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon Lemon Zest
Egg Wash
1 Egg
Large Crystal Sugar like sanding, demerara or turbinado sugars. ( if you don’t have these large crystal sugars, regular granulated sugar will still give an added sweet crustiness to the crust- so use it!)
INSTRUCTIONS
Prior to Mixing:
Preheat oven to 350° F / 177° C
Get your pie pan out (ideally a 9″)
Make the Pie Dough:
Follow instructions in link above
Recipe calls for two layers of pie dough, a base and a top layer
Chill two disks of dough in the refrigerator while you make the filling
Make the Strawberry Rhubarb pie filling
This is easy…. grab a big bowl and mix all the ingredients – nothing special, just make sure all fruit bits are thoroughly covered with sugar, salt and cornstarch.
Assemble and Bake
Roll out one disk of dough, lay in your 9″ pie pan with excess dough hanging over the side
Dump in your pie filling in the pie shell, spread around evenly
Roll out the second disk of dough and apply over the pie (or use for lattice or any other decorative top). Cut a few slits evenly to allow ventilation.
Crimp the edges in any style you like, be sure to SEAL the edge as well as you can or juicy pie filling will burst out and easily burn your pie edge. It doesn’t taste that bad, but it kind of uglies up your pie creation (as seen in my photo!)… it’s best to keep the filling on the inside if you can….. BUT
Just in case, you should always place a cookie sheet on the rack beneath the rack you bake your pie on.
Make your egg wash: crack your egg in a small bowl, add a few splashes of water from the faucet and mix it up with a fork. Take a pastry brush (or BBQ brush) and paint the outside of your pie dough with the egg wash. Just lightly apply, try to avoid puddles of egg juice atop your pie (we don’t want a layer of scrambled egg on top of our pie)
Sprinkle liberally with your large granule sugar
Place pie (and safety cookie sheet) in oven and BAKE.
Bake for about 50 – 60 mins until the filling is bubbly. Keep an eye on the pie and if any part of the crust is getting too overdone, cover with foil and continue the bake.
