Summer's Best Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

One of my favorite things to do on Saturday mornings in the summer is to head over to the Countryside Farmer's Market in Peninsula. The folksy music, friendly farmers, good-natured beekeepers, and colorful, aromatic assortment of locally grown fruits and veggies brings me complete joy...and gets me excited about making something memorably delicious for my family! One farmer had gorgeous, ruby red strawberries and long green and pink stalks of rhubarb hence the creation of this amazing pie. Here's the recipe, which I adapted from New York Times Cooking.

Ingredients:

For the Filling

2 cups of rhubarb cut into roughly 1 inch pieces

3 cups of strawberries cut int halves

1 cup of sugar

3 tablespoons of unsalted butter

(NYT calls for using 3 tbsp of "minute" tapioca" I believe to thicken the liquid, but I didn't have it and I'm ok with a runnier a pie - the berry juices go well with the pie a la mode, serving as a syrup of sorts)

For the Crust

I love a good, buttery homemade pie crust, but it is definitely more time-consuming to make it from scratch! For a much quicker pie, I like to use a frozen pie crust like Marie Callender's Deep Dish Pastry Pie Shells. Before adding the filling to the pie shell, I rub butter all over it to give it a buttery flavor that's sometimes missing with the frozen pie shells. Also, the frozen pie shells come in packs of 2. So, set the other one aside because we will use it to top the pie.

Here's the homemade pie crust recipe if you want to make it from scratch! The key to a flaky pie crust it to ensure that the butter does not melt. Keep the fat cold!

2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1/2 teaspoon of salt

3/4 teaspoon of sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

15 tablespoons (2 sticks minus 1 tablespoon) of unsalted butter that's been sitting in the freezer for at least an hour, cut into small cubes ~1/4 an inch (Kerry Gold is my favorite butter in terms of flavor, Land O'Lakes is next best in my opinion)

1/2 cup of ice-cold water

1 tablespoon of milk (I only use whole milk in my house - just has a much better flavor than reduced fat milks)

Instructions:

Make the Crust (or buy the crust as noted above)

Mix the dry ingredients, and then use a pastry cutter to cut the cold butter into the flour. Your dough is ready for you to sprinkle in the cold water when it's the size of small peas. You want to still see the butter as this is what will make the crust flaky - the butter produces steam as it bakes that creates pockets within the flour.

Smash your crust together and put 1/3 of it in a flattened pile (this will be your lattice dough) and the remaining in another flattened pile (this will be your pie base dough). Wrap each pile separately in saran wrap and put in the freezer for about 30 minutes (or in the refrigerator overnight or until you're ready to roll it out).

Make the Filling

Combine rhubarb and strawberries in a large bowl. Fold in sugar and allow it to macerate (meld and soften) for 15 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

Compile the Pie & Bake

If you made your own crust, now is the time to flour and dust a clean surface and role out the two pieces of pie dough. The bigger portion will be used for the pie base, and the smaller portion you will cut to make the lattice work.

Spoon the fruit into the pastry shell and dot with the 3 tablespoons of butter. I cut the butter into small pieces to ensure even butter distribution throughout the pie.

If you made your pie crust, add your lattice work to the top by braiding it. If you used a frozen pie crust, take the reserved 2nd pie crust and flip it over to cover the pie. You want it to be somewhat defrosted so it's malleable. Use a fork or your finger to smash the two pie crusts together to seal the pie. Use a sharp knife to cut 2-4 1 inch slits into the top of the pie.

Brush pie with milk and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake in preheated over for 15 minutes, and then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for about 30-40 minutes. My pie started to burn at the top around 20 minutes so keep an eye on yours and add foil to the areas that are browning quickly so they don't burn. My oven has very uneven heat distribution, so hopefully you won't have to fuss with this!

Your pie is done cooking when it is golden brown and the filling begins to bubble. Let pie cool on a cooling wrack. NYT says to wait 3 hours to cool before serving, but we got hungry for the pie and couldn't wait past an 1 hour. It was runny - but SOOOO delicious! Sweet, tangy and buttery! Hope you all enjoy this pie!