The rhubarb has gone to seed, how beautiful it is!
The pie and two custards, which we ate while I was writing this blog! Deeeelicious
MEEMO'S RHUBARB-STRAWBERRY PIE
For the crust:
3/4 Cup butter
1 1/2 Cups flour
1 Tbsp. white sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and lightly grease a 9- 10 inch pie plate. Blend ingredients in an electric mixer until fine crumbs. Press into and up sides of the pie plate. You may have some leftover since this recipe was for a 9x13 inch cake pan. I try to make the crust about 1/8-1/4 inch thick. Bake for 15 minutes until set but not brown. Set aside to cool a bit. (I don't do this but that's what the recipe says.)
For the Filling:
4 Cups chopped fresh rhubarb ( I use frozen and will discuss time of cooking later)
3 Cups fresh strawberries cut in half or sliced depending on size.
2 eggs
2 Cups white sugar
1 1/2 Cups sour cream
1/3 Cup flour (I think I may use 1/2 Cup with frozen rhubarb but I do like my pie a little juicy so maybe not).
Turn oven up to 450 degrees F. Whisk together in a medium bowl, the egg, sugar, sour cream and flour.
Spread rhubarb and strawberries in the pie plate and then pour the sour cream mixture over top of the fruit. I think you could just mix the fruit into the sour cream mixture and fill the crust. Then if you have too much you can put the rest in custard cups* to bake with the pie--that's what I did.
For the Topping:
1/2 Cup flour
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1/4 Cup melted butter
In a small bowl mix flour and brown sugar together and add enough melted butter to make mixture crumbly. Sprinkle over the top of the pie (and custards if you have enough--I made more for them).
Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 350F. and continue to bake for 40** minutes, or until edges have puffed and topping is golden. The center may still be slightly jiggly. Mine was very jiggly so I cooked it about 15-20 minutes longer because of the frozen rhubarb. I tested the pie doneness by putting a knife in the center and seeing if it came out clean, too. About an hour and 15 minutes total. Let cool completely before slicing and serving.
*I put the custards in the oven after I reduced the temperature and cooked them for about 50 minutes.
**may need to cook longer if using frozen fruit
Well, it looks tasty
Ready to dig in!
By the way, I have never found a Rhubarb pie recipe that tasted like Mom's either! Even the one she claimed to use! I guess our memories include more than the taste. Maybe Lynn has the right recipe. I hope she will try this one so she can eat rhubarb pie for breakfast in France! That is one of my memories. Lynn and I and, I think Mom, even, eating rhubarb pie and exclaiming on how much better it tasted the next morning for breakfast.
One last memory goes back to when we were quite young, sometime in elementary school. We, the neighborhood gang that was around my age, would sneak into the rhubarb patch and each pick a stalk of rhubarb to eat raw out of the garden. We would put salt on it and carry on about how good it was. I hated it but didn't ever admit it to anyone. It was way too sour and made my mouth dry and puckery! I wonder if any of the other backwoods kids thought that too???? Sue? Ned? Tom? Tip? Lynn?
Afternoon Coffee Break
I got out my Limoges china to take my pie pictures so I want to post them because I love this china!
I think that pie sounds perfectly luscious and am going to try it. Also an interesting way to make a pie crust. My best pie cookbook ever is the old Farm Journal Pie Cookbook. Have you ever looked there for a rhubarb custard? Tried their Honeyed Rhubarb Pie this spring and we all agreed it was worth the 5 star rating they gave it.
ReplyDeleteThe rhubarb patch I remember was a single plant growing next to the chimney before the "new" addition was added. I remember eating raw rhubarb and I didn't mind it but never loved it. We were always careful not to eat any leaves because they were poisonous (oxalic acid). I did love mom's stewed rhubarb for breakfast. Why doesn't anyone make real pies with both at bottom and a top crust (my pies always have a top crust) The only dish I make with a crumble top is apple crisp and I use Mom's recipe for that. The pastry recipe I use is that from Mrs. Rhor's Philadelphia Cook Book and keep all the ingredients ice cold.
ReplyDeleteT
Yes, I also loved the stewed rhubarb for breakfast and still make it every time I pick a batch of rhubarb. I love pie crust as you may remember, but Bob doesn't so I like this second best. My bottom crust taste sooooo good, though, that I have made cookies out of it. It tastes like browned butter, which I love.
ReplyDeleteYes, Penny, I remember the rhubarb picked and eaten with salt. My mother's rhubarb patch was right at the end of the rain gutter downspout, and she always claimed that all the water made for a successful rhubarb crop.
ReplyDeleteI have tons of rhubarb at our place which was here when we came 45 years ago. Daughter Chris didn't want a cake for her birthday, she wanted Grandma Phoebe's rhubarb pie with a meringue topping.
Sue
Well, I just loved the sour rhubarb with salt, so there!!! Also green apples with salt.
ReplyDeleteRhubarb sauce is also one of my faves. I just made some here, but French rhubarb doesn't taste as good as our home grown stuff.
As for Mom's rhubarb pie, I think it was just rhubarb sauce cooked in pie crust in a hot oven for 15 mins. or so and then finished off at 350 for another 45 mins. or so.
Your pie crust, Penny, is just about the only one used in France. They make all their fresh fruit pies with it, then make a custard filling (without sour cream, however), cook it, then put the sliced fresh fruit - strawberries, pears, kiwis, etc. on top then put some kind of glaze over it and serve cold. Or maybe they cook the fruit a little on the pie. I never make them. I just buy the little tarts, or have them for dessert at a restaurant, or eat them at friends' homes. They are great, but seem like too much trouble.
Right now is cherry season, so we're just gorging ourselves while we can.
Lynn, those kind of tarts are also very Mexican. We made them a few times in my classes and they also are served on the buffets in Wendover. I love them and they are so pretty with the lovely fruit arrangements. You almost hate to cut into them. One of my students' relatives was a pastry chef and donated the glaze to us so I still don't know how to make it
ReplyDelete