Father’s Day Strawberry Rhubarb Pie – not a knitting post!
I managed to take a break from my screen and other work to enjoy Sunday celebrating my husband and father of my children on Father’s Day! He really is an extraordinary human being and father. We made breakfast, we swam at the pool, and I made a strawberry rhubarb pie. Yummm.
You may not know this about me yet, but I.Love.Pie. Especially sour cherry and rhubarb. And pumpkin and apple. And peach and key lime. Well, ok, all the pie :). I also love to make pie, so it’s always a win-win in my books when I make time to whip some up!
This Sunday, I made strawberry rhubarb pie, so those are the main ingredients here. I used about equal measures of each and mixed them with flour, sugar and butter. So simple!
The real key to a good pie in my opinion is a good crust. I follow a pretty standard recipe that originated from the Joy of Cooking cookbook that my grandmother gave me a very long time ago. I have tweaked it a bit to suit my tastes. The list of ingredients is below in case you’d like to try it yourself!
I start by mixing salt and flour before adding any other ingredients. I use both butter and vegetable shortening in my pie crust. Some will say pure butter is the way to go, but I think the shortening gives the crust some light fluffiness that the butter doesn’t. On the flip side, the butter provides some delicious flavor! I use cold butter that I cut up into small cubes and ideally cold shortening – though, if I’m honest, it usually is room temperature. I cut it in with a pastry cutter, and then follow by adding my cold water. I always try to mix as little as possible to keep the finished product flakey and tender.
Once my crust can form a ball, I divide it into parts for top and bottom crusts. I usually make 2 pies at a time. One for our household and another to share with the neighbors.
At my house, perfection is not crucial – so my crusts never actually LOOK perfect. They taste divine, though! Once the top crust is added, some time in the oven (10 min at 400 and then reduced to 350 for 35-45 min), and voila! As I mentioned, I made 2 – one had a . . . well, an incident, but still tasted great!
To make your own pies, you will need:
Crust (Per Pie – I made 2)
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 Tbsp cold butter cubed (1 cm cubes)
- 2/3 cup vegetable shortening
- 4-5 Tbsp cold water
Filling (Per Pie – I made 2)
- 2 1/2 cups chopped strawberries
- 2 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 Tbsp butter chopped
Enjoy!
Kristine
Ok, now I’m hungry for pie!
I can almost always eat pie :).