Grill Party Pie

Some wonderful new neighbors just moved in downstairs, so my husband organized an impromptu grill party for yesterday night. As always, I was in charge of the pie. I made the first strawberry-rhubarb of the year. Sadly though, I did not have enough garden output for the ingredients and had to use store-bought. The resulting pie was perfect - flaky, buttery crust and a flavorful filling you could really sink your fork into. The best pies are often made under a little bit of pressure - deadline looming, naptime drawing to a close, and with a bunch of new faces as taste-testers.

Strawberry Rhubarb Grill Party Pie (filling for 9" pie)
1.5 lbs. rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1/2" thick slices
16 oz. strawberries, hulled and halved or quartered depending on size
1 T. brown sugar, heaped
3/4 c. white sugar
4 T. arrowroot starch
1 t. ground cinnamon (I used Penzey's)

Mix all of the above ingredients together in a large bowl. Line your 9" pie dish with the bottom crust. Pour and heap filling mix into crust. Set upper crust on top. Trim edges and seal (I use a fork to crimp the edges). Cut a vent into the top crust. Bake at 400 F for 20 min, then reduce oven temperature to 350 F and bake for an additional 35-40 min. When magenta goo erupts from the crust vent (or other cracks in the crust), the pie is generally done. Serve warm.

Current Pie Tally: 56

Can't Ruin a Good Thing

Another Strawberry Rhubarb Pie from the freezer arsenal. Made the same as the last one of the same proportions. I think I could have cooked it a bit longer. The bottom crust could have been a bit firmer. But a success overall.

Current Pie Tally: 21

Post-Baby Pie Update

And then there were three pie-loving mouths to feed. My son Caleb Richmond was born on May 23rd, so pie time is precious time these days. However, I have managed a few. First off, the chicken pot pie that I froze was excellent. Freezing definitely "cured" the crust to perfection. Very flaky, flavorful, and filling. Just what we needed after a long delivery. Here is a recap of how to cook a frozen pot pie: DO NOT THAW IT. Put it directly in a 425 F oven for 20 minutes. Then, turn the heat down to 350 F and cook it for about another 50 min. It's done when the crust around the center looks dry and cooked.

Second, the day before Cal was born, my nesting instincts (which manifested mostly in obsessive gardening) inspired me to pick a bunch of our rhubarb and make a strawberry rhubarb pie for the freezer. It's still there, waiting to be called into service.

Lastly, there's the story behind this post's photo. My boy is less than two weeks old and I made a pie today. From scratch. With filling ingredients solely from my garden and a neighbor's garden. It's a rhubarb strawberry pie, made the same way as the strawberry rhubarbs I've made, except that the fruit proportions are skewed in favor of the strawberries. I maybe used 1.5 - 2 quarts of strawberries and 1 c. less of the rhubarb.

Current Pie Tally: 19

Strawberry Rhubarb Homecoming Pie

What better way to arrive home from a conference than to an enormously pregnant wife and a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie? I usually hold off on making this until husband's birthday, but it's only a couple weeks away, so I thought I'd kick off the celebration early. Whole Foods had a tempting display of local rhubarb, so I went for it. Though the organic strawberries are from California. Shame on me.

Strawberry Rhubarb Homecoming Pie (filling for 9" pie)
1.5 lbs. rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1/2" thick slices
16 oz. strawberries, hulled and halved or quartered depending on size
1/2 c. brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 c. white sugar
5 T. flour
1 t. ground cinnamon (I used Penzey's)
1/4 t. salt

Mix all of the above ingredients together in a large bowl. Line your 9" pie dish with the bottom crust. Pour and heap filling mix into crust. Set upper crust on top. Trim edges and seal (I use a fork to crimp the edges). Cut a vent into the top crust. Bake at 400 F for 20 min, then reduce oven temperature to 350 F and bake for an additional 35-40 min. When magenta goo erupts from the crust vent (or other cracks in the crust), the pie is generally done. Serve warm.

Current Pie Tally: 15 (9 in 2009; 6 so far for 2010)