All posts tagged: strawberry rhubarb pie

Rhubarb Reverb

May 24, 2009 Baking, Fruit, Recipes

Our first attempt at strawberry-rhubarb pie having ended in a round of rhubarbaritas and rhubarb sodas, we made a second go at it. This one ended in pie.

If you’re looking for a strawberry-rhubarb pie recipe, this is the easiest we’ve found. And it’s unique because it doesn’t use a top crust like most other recipes, which was important because we were kitchen-testing Sherrie’s gluten-free pie crusts to see if they worked for summer pie season. So if you’re going topless this summer . . . wait, no, if your pie is going topless . . . wait, no . . .

Sabrina used Sherrie’s crust to bake a quiche and thought they worked well for savory dishes. We were pleased with the results of our sweet pie. Though the crust is not an approximation of a flaky pie crust, as an edible container for the fruit it worked. Instead of wheat flour, Sherrie’s uses tapioca, which is an ingredient in some pies, so maybe that helps. Note we pre-baked the crust at 350F for 10 minutes before filling and baking, though Sherrie’s doesn’t include that in the directions.

Single Crust Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

2 pints strawberries, hulled and halved
1 pound rhubarb cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
single crust

Set oven to 350F. Mix strawberries, rhubarb, sugar and flour in bowl. Spoon into pie shell. Place on baking sheet and bake for about 1 hour or until the center of the pie is bubbly. Let cool on rack.

Recipe adapted from The Rhubarb Compendium

Rhubarbarama

May 19, 2009 Fruit, Spirits, Vegetables

It’s a cruel, cruel summer without rhubarb, that sour stalk that adds zip to tarts, jams and pies. Yesterday, we picked up the last 4 stalks in the store (more in today) anticipating that we’d have just enough to make a strawberry rhubarb pie. But it was not to be.

Rhubarb is easy to work with. Take off the leaves if any are attached (they’re poison), then chop. Some people peel them but we found our stalks to be fresh enough that the outer portion was just as tender as the inside. Because they’re crisp and chop easy, we had the kids help. That’s where the trouble started.

Kids tend to have a taste for the sour stuff and at some point one of our little mincing minions must have realized that if they were in the kitchen, what they were working with was likely edible. Due to shrinkage caused by sampling, we ended up with only a cup and a half of chopped rhubarb, not the 3 required for a pie. Rhubarb is technically a veggie, not a fruit. And we couldn’t really yell at them for eating their vegetables, could we?

So we did the next best thing with the remnants of our rhubarb – we boiled them with water and sugar and made a rhubarb simple syrup. With soda and fresh squeezed lime juice added for the kids (and a dash of lemon vodka added for us) and strawberry garnishes for all, we had the essence of a pie, if not the real thing.

Rhubarb Simple Syrup
Adapted from a recipe by Carrie Floyd, from the Culinate Kitchen collection

1½ cups rhubarb, roughly chopped
1 cup sugar
1½ cups water

Place rhubarb, sugar, and 1½ cups of water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes, until the syrup is bright pink. Remove from heat and cool. Strain syrup into a large jar. Reserve cooked and strained rhubarb for use as a compote over ice cream.

The simple syrup can be used in any number of cocktails. Easy non-alcoholic rhubarb soda:

cup of ice
1 oz rhubarb simple syrup
1 oz lime juice
3 oz soda water

Pour syrup, lime juice and soda water over ice. Garnish with slice of lime or strawberry.

For the adults we used the classic proportions of a margarita with lemon vodka instead of tequila to make a rhubarbarita:

1 1/4 oz Hangar One Buddha’s Hand Citron Vodka
1 1/2 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice
1 oz rhubarb simple syrup

Combine in shaker with ice. Shake vigorously. Serve up in a cocktail glass or over ice in a collins glass with a splash of soda water.

Some other cocktail ideas we found inspiring:

Rhubarb Cosmopolitan from Culinate Kitchen

Rhubarb Mojito from Brooklyn Farmhouse

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