With Sumner’s Rhubarb Days upon us, the city is making much ado of its title as Rhubarb Pie Capital of the World. You can pick one up from one of the fine restaurants downtown, but if you’re a do-it-yourselfer, here’s a simple recipe—courtesy of the Joy of Cooking’s 75th Anniversary Edition—for a delicious strawberry rhubarb pie you can make in your own kitchen.
What You’ll Need:
A mixing bowl
Cutting board
Knife
Pastry mixer or bread machine (optional)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegetable shortening
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
Ice water
1 pound of rhubarb stalks
1 pound strawberries
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup quick-cooking tapioca
2 tsp. grated orange zest
1/4 tsp. salt
2 T. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Milk
2 tsp. sugar
Preparing the pie crusts (9-inch double crust pie)
1) In your mixing bowl, sift together your flour and 1 1/4 tsp. salt.
2) Take your vegetable shortening and cut it into halves. Place one half of the shortening into the flour mixture. Work one half into the flour mixture by kneading gently with your fingers. Add in the rest of the shortening and 3 T. of butter. I like to use the dough setting on my bread machine to finish the mix, but you can mix by hand if no equivalent tools are available.
3) Sprinkle the dough with 6 T. of ice water and knead until the mixture holds together. Add a little more ice water if needed.
4) Split the dough in half and sprinkle it in flour, as well as any surfaces on which you’ll be shaping the dough. Flatten and shape the dough until you have two 9-inch disks.
5) Lay one disk into a pie pan, pressing gently to fit it to form. Wrap both disks in plastic wrap while you prepare the pie filling.
The filling
1) Cut the rhubarb into 1-inch sections. Place 2 1/2 cups into your mixing bowl.
2) Cut the leafy tops off your strawberries and cut each berry into lengthwise halves. Add 2 1/2 cups of berries to your bowl.
3) In your bowl, add 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 1/4 cup tapioca powder, and 1/4 tsp. salt.
4) With a cheese grater, grind against the peel until you’ve yielded 2 tsp. of rind (orange zest). Add to your bowl.
5) Allow the mixture to settle for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to expose more sugar to the fruit juices.
6) Pour the mixture into the pie tin and crust. Sprinkle 2 T. of butter on top.
7) Place your second pie crust over the top, and cut slits into the top for ventilation during baking.
8) With a pastry brush, spread a thin layer of milk over the top of the pie crust. Sprinkle 2 tsp. sugar over the top.
Baking
Set the oven to 450 degrees and place the oven rack one-third up from the bottom. Bake the pie for 30 minutes. Lower the oven to 350 degrees and bake for another 25 minutes. Allow the pie to cool before serving.
