Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

A few weeks ago I made a pie crust.

It was meant for a peach pie, but I got a little overwhelmed with the rolling and waiting, so once it was in the freezer to chill I decided to leave it there and ended up making a cobbler.

I was inspired to try it with organic lard (been using it in my breads too!) I used a recipe from Mike Ahmadi's blog and modified it just a bit for my purposes.

On Friday, while doing our shopping, I spotted some ruby red, beautiful rhubarb at the co-op and decided the strawberry rhubarb pie that I keep on buying strawberries for but never making had to finally get put on the front burner.

This pie is summer to me. It reminds me of my grandma, I suppose most baked goods do, but nothing brings it home as much as strawberry rhubarb pie. (Except for maybe the scent of her perfume. I inherited a bottle and keep it close. Ten years later it still evokes the same comfort as it did when I was a girl.)

The flavor of rhubarb is the flavor of my grandma's kitchen: the yellow formica counters with bread boards that pulled out from under the lip, ridiculous rooster themed wall paper, and the lazy susan that teamed with baking ingredients housed in teal canisters with a floral design and a white lid.

Lola was super excited to help. So I had her hull the strawberries for me and then hand them to me to slice.  Then she helped the Daddy wash up the rhubarb and I chopped that up.

Lola was put in charge of the stirring. So we mixed up the fruit and added the white and brown sugars, tapioca, flour, lemon juice and zest, vanilla and cinnamon. She got a little overzealous with the stirring and we lost a few good pieces of rhubarb when they flew out of the bowl, but we made sure they got a proper burial and persevered.

 Once the filling was finished Lola was distracted by the Daddy with some markers and I went to work on the crust. It was extremely crumbly and prone to falling apart, but I could see big chunks of fat which was exactly what I wanted. I rolled out the first round of dough just enough to fit in the pie pan and stuck it back in the freezer. I rolled out the top crust a bit but it was getting soft so quickly I put it back in the freezer for a bit to firm back up and pulled out the bottom crust to pour the filling in...and realized I had at least a cup and a half that just wouldn't fit.

So being resourceful, I decided to make a cobbler as well! But I couldn't be bothered to find a recipe so I poured the extra into a bread pan and mixed up a little batter with some flour, lard, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and milk. Once it was the right consistency I poured it right over the rhubarb strawberry filling in the bread pan and stuffed it in the oven.

By this time the top crust had gotten cold enough again, so I finished rolling it out and clumsily spread it over the pie tin, sliced a few lines through the center to allow steam to escape and put it in the oven on a cookie sheet covered in parchment. (My smoking oven has taught me a thing or two.)

The cobbler came out when the dough was a dark shiny brown (about 40 minutes) and the pie came out an additional 20 minutes later. The crust was amazing, crumbly, flaky, flavorful, but not particularly pretty. The filling had that lovely tang of rhubarb with the super sweetness of the strawberries.

The cobbler was the unexpected star. It had the same sweet filling as the pie but the crust came out with a good texture and flavor as well, very similar to a banana bread. I wish I'd written down the recipe! But instead you'll just get a picture of the cobbler that almost wasn't and probably won't be again.

Verdict?  While the pie crust was amazing. It was hard enough to work with that next time I will use a 3 to 1 ratio of butter to lard.




 Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Filling
Adapted from Grandma's Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie, Valarie Enters,  Foodnetwork.com

 2 cups sliced strawberries
3 cups chopped rhurbarb
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons minute tapioca
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 lemon, juiced and zested
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla


 Preheat oven to 425. Mix the rhubarb, strawberries, sugars, lemon juice and zest, cinnamon and vanilla and let sit for 5 minutes. Once the juices have started to develop add the minute tapioca and the flour a little bit at a time. Depending upon the juiciness of the fruit you may add or reduce the flour. You want the dry ingredients to soak up the juice in the bowl so that as it develops more juices during the cooking process it stays together. Pour the filling into the chilled crust. Place the top crust over, slice through in several areas for venting. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes and then turn down the heat to 376 and back for an additional 50 minutes or until the filling bubbles through.

2 Crust Lard/Butter Pie Crust
Adapted from Pie Crust, Mike Ahmadi, http://tinyurl.com/FoodMuse

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed
3/4 cup lard, cubed
1/3 cup ice water

It is important to freeze the butter and lard, cube, then refreeze. You want it as cold as possible before adding to the flour.  In the food processor combine the flour, salt and sugar. Pulse a few times. Add the chilled butter and lard. Pulse until the mixture looks like tiny peas.  It is okay if there are still some larger chunks, but the majority of them should be pea sized.

Start adding the ice water a tablespoon at a time with a quick pulse or two after each addition. You can test if the dough is ready by grabbing a handful and squeezing. If it starts to stick together it is ready. (Don't do this unless you're almost sure it is ready as it will raise the temperature!)

Pour it out onto parchment paper and divide into two piles. Form each pile into a round flat disk and wrap with parchment paper.  If you wish to freeze it at this point wrap it well and forget it! Otherwise chill at least 1 hour.

Remove from parchment, flour, and roll out!