fitlife 
Hello! How’s your summer going? My little rhubarb patch has been going strong since spring (probably due to all the cool, rainy days we’ve had) and I may be able to get a few more stalks before I need to give it a rest for the remainder of the summer so it comes back next spring in good health. A good rule of thumb is that when the stalks start getting thin you should stop picking.
Sadly, rhubarb season and my peas may be ending but Clematis season in my garden is at its peak. Tomatoes and zucchini will be arriving soon, if it ever stops raining. Has anyone else been getting tons of rain this summer? We had almost 2″ or rain last night into this morning!
Printable Recipe
Makes one 9″ pie (amounts for 8″ pie in parentheses)
Rhubarb-Strawberry Filling
1-1/3 (1) cups sugar
1/3 (1/4) cup all-purpose flour
4 (3) cups diced fresh rhubarb
1 (1/2) cups diced fresh strawberries
1-1/2 (1) tablespoons butter
3 (2) tablespoons sliced almonds, for garnish
Swedish Pearl Sugar or regular baking sugar, for garnish
2 crust pastry (recipe follows) or you may use store-bought refrigerated pie crusts
Preheat oven to 425F
Place rhubarb in a large bowl. Mix sugar and flour together and add to rhubarb in bowl. Toss together with rhubarb.
Pour
rhubarb mixture into a pastry-lined pie plate and dot with butter.
Cover with top crust and make slits in dough. Flute crust edge with
your fingers or score with a fork to seal. Sprinkle top with almonds
and sugar.
Bake for 40-50 minutes until crust is nicely browned
and juice begins to bubble through slits. Cover edge of pastry with
strips of aluminum or use a silicone pie crust shield during the last 20 minutes to prevent burning.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
Pastry for a 9″ Two Crust Pie (8″ pie amounts in parentheses)
2 cups (1-1/2) cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon (3/4) teaspoon salt
2/3 (1/2) cups shortening (such as Crisco)
1/4 (3 tablespoons) cold water, more or less
Measure
flour by dip and level method and place in large bowl. Add salt and
blend. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until the consistency is
like small peas.
Sprinkle flour mixture with water, 1
tablespoon at a time, and mix with a fork until all flour is moistened.
Bring dough together with your hands and press into a ball. Cut into
two pieces and form into discs.
On a lightly floured surface roll
out dough, one piece at a time, covering unrolled piece with plastic
wrap until ready to roll out. Roll pastry about 1-inch larger than the
pie plate’s largest diameter, about 1/8-inch thick. Fold pastry in half
and transfer to pie plate. Unfold and press into place. Fill and
cover pie with second piece of rolled dough and follow directions above
finishing and baking.
Adapted from “Rhubarb Pie’ in my vintage Betty Crocker Cookbook.
