It is almost summer and that means it is time for strawberry rhubarb pie. Strawberries and rhubarb are both in season and full of flavor. The tartness of the rhubarb and the sweetness of the strawberries blend perfectly in this delectable pie.
This truly is my spring/summer pie. The fall and winter months get French apple and pumpkin pies, but summer belongs to strawberries and rhubarb.
Although peach pie richly deserves to be on any list of excellent summer pies. In fact, one of the singularly most perfect pies I ever baked was my first ever peach pie. And I really can’t take much of the credit. The pie was a result of the most incredible peaches we have ever eaten, before or since.
But, as peach trees aren’t native to Minnesota, the perfect peach is pretty hard to find. I have made several peach pies since, all really good, but they may never measure up to that very first wonderful creation.
But, happily, strawberries and rhubarb are both grown in Minnesota. So we can count on the stellar results of this pie year after year.
Ingredients:
2 crust Pie Pastry: Use your go-to unbaked pie pastry, be it homemade or store-bought. This is my favorite, be sure to double that recipe for a 2 crust pie.
Sugar: No sweet pie is complete without some form of sugar.
Flour: The strawberries and rhubarb combine with the sugar and create a lot of juice. The flour is there to thicken that juice.
Orange Zest: Optional but highly recommended if you have an orange available. I like the brightness the zest adds to the pie.
Rhubarb: If you are a fan of tart flavors, you are a fan of rhubarb.
Strawberries: These sweet berries are perfect with the tart of the rhubarb.
Butter: A little butter is dabbed on top of the fruit filling for a little extra richness. I have forgotten, I mean, omitted it, on occasion with no consequences. But it is a nice addition.
Instructions:
After preheating your oven, start prepping your fruit. Chop both the strawberries and the rhubarb into one-half-inch pieces. Try to get the pieces relatively even to assure even baking and allow the fruit to be well blended within the pie.
Add the sugar, flour and orange zest and stir thoroughly.
Your pie filling will soon look like this.
The sugar will dissolve, and a sweet syrup will form. Take a taste if you want, and trust me, you do. 🙂
Position the bottom layer of pie crust into the base and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork. Pour the filling into the dough, make sure to scrape out all that lovely syrup.
Dot the filling with butter and add the top pastry. Take care to crimp the edges of the top and bottom crust together to form a good seal. Using a fork to seal the edges is an easy, and pretty, way to help assure the edges are sealed.
Make slits in the top of the crust. Sprinkle with a little sugar if you want.
Place the pie on a sheet pan to bake. As much as we hope we have the pie properly sealed, scrapping burned pie filling off the bottom of your oven isn’t fun. Hence, the sheet pan.
Place foil around the edges of the pie crust to prevent the outer edges from becoming too brown. Remove the foil during the last 15 minutes of baking.
After 50 minutes the pie with be lightly browned on top and the pie filling will be hot and bubbling.
Let the pie rest and cool for at least one hour to allow the filling to properly set. Serve with some good vanilla ice cream. This premium vanilla bean ice cream is wonderful.
For a glorious taste of summer, make strawberry rhubarb pie!
Strawberry Rhubarb pie
Ingredients
- 1 Pastry for 9-inch Two-Crust Pie
- 1 cup sugar
- ⅓ cup plus 1 Tbsp flour
- 1 tsp orange zest finely grated – optional
- 2 cups rhubarb chopped into equal sized one half inch pieces
- 2 cups strawberries chopped into equal sized one half inch pieces
- 1 Tbsp butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425℉
- Combine sugar, flour and orange zest in large bowl.
- Slice the rhubarb stalks and strawberries into equal size one half inch pieces. Stir the rhubarb and strawberries into the sugar mixture until well combined. Set aside.
- Prepare pie pastry. Add bottom layer of unbaked pie dough to a 9 inch pie plate. Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork.
- Stir the filling mixture again then spoon onto the pastry lined plate. Dot the pie filling with butter.
- Cover with top crust. Using a knife make four slits in the top of the crust. Seal the edges of the crust together. Sprinkle the crust with sugar if desired.
- Cover edge with a 2 to 3 inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning. Place the pie on a sheet pan in case of pie filling spilling over. Remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking.
- Bake about 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.
- Allow to cool before slicing. Vanilla ice cream is an excellent accompaniment.
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