My favorite summer pie is strawberry rhubarb pie, or more specifically my Grandma Mary's strawberry rhubarb Pie. I also like cherry pie but those, in my opinion, are both easy to make and convenient year round.
I find making the perfect rhubarb pie challenging. Strawberries are easy to find. There in all the supermarkets. The rhubarb, on the other hand, is very elusive here in Florida. I have only been able to find it frozen and only at Publix. Weird. I guess it just doesn't grow down south and it's not at all popular?
Last time I made a strawberry rhubarb pie I called my grandmother up and got her recipe. That pie totally sucked. Probably because I used frozen rhubarb. But what choice did I have? That's all that's available around here! Also, my hubbie and roommate don't seem to be pie fans. Solution. Mini pies I can freeze just for me. Yay!
I don't own any little tart or pie pans so I tried out using a muffin tin. It wasn't completely successful and I had a hard time getting some of the little pies out. I discovered that I had to make the crusts a little thicker to be able to get them out easier. Also, don't skimp on the filling! Overfill those babies.
These little pie came out delicious! Not my grandmother's pie but not too shabby. I'm convinced that my favorite recipes by my Mom and grandma are unreproducible. They don't measure! *sigh* They've made these recipes so many times they just don't need to see it written down. Drives me crazy.
Strawberry Rhubarb Pielettes
adapted from Simply Recipes
1.5 cups frozen rhubarb, thawed and drained and diced
1.5 cups fresh strawberries, stemmed and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1.5 Tablespoons of quick cooking tapioca
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of grated orange peel
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
Unbaked pastry for two-crust 9 inch pie
Combine strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, tapioca, salt and orange zest in bowl. Stir well.
Roll out prepared pie dough on floured surface. Using small round object or biscuit cutter cut rounds of pie dough. Smoosh into bottom of muffin tin and up the sides making sure there are no bubbles.
Fill each prepared muffin hole with equal amounts of filling. Dot each pie with a little butter and top with remaining dough rounds. Using fork crimp each pie. With small knife cut holes for vents.
If desired, use a pastry brush to coat each pielette with water. Sprinkle pies generously with coarse sugar.
Bake pies in preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. If browning too quickly cover pies with foil. Turn oven down to 350 degrees and bake 10 minutes or until pies are bubbly.
The only time we ever had rhubarb growing up was going to Grandma and Grandpa's (I never heard of or saw it sold in the south so I think you are right). They grew it every year. Sometimes Grandma would freeze some and bring it down when they'd visit in the fall.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping that my Grandma has some in the freezer when I come up. They never grew it but their friends would give them some from their garden along with the strawberries.
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