rhubarb week commence! this past weekend i went on a hunt for the biggest & brightest rhubarb in the city. i ended up finding a beautiful bunch of ontario grown rhubarb from the farmers market in liberty village, along side some strawberries and asparagus. i like to call rhubarb 'pink celery' as not many people are familiar with what it looks like outside of a strawberry rhubarb pie. when my mom was growing up rhubarb used to grow wild in her backyard and they would eat it raw dipped in sugar. like a fresh jolly rancher! the pie crust is a butter based dough and full of buttery flavour. i have yet to make a pie dough using shortening (shortening scares me) because butter, right? maybe one day i will try to do a butter + shortening mixed crust, but for now this crust compliments the sweet & sour filling perfectly! plus, the bright pink & red colours look and photograph amazing.
ingredients
for the dough
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon raw sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cold & cubed
- 1/2 cup ice cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla
for the filling
3 cups chopped fresh rhubarb
- 3 cups chopped fresh strawberries
- 1 cup raw sugar
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 pinch of salt
1/4 cup corn starch
directions
for the dough: using a food processor (can be done by hand too), pulse the flour, salt and sugar a few times to blend.
- add the cubed butter and vanilla. pulse until a crumb like texture is formed.
- slowly add the cold water one tablespoon at a time until a dough begins to form (if you accidentally add too much water add a bit more flour).
- once the dough begins to come together, turn out onto a pastry board and form into a disk using your hands.
- refrigerate for 2 hours, or overnight.
- for the filling add rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, salt, and corn starch in a mixing bowl. toss until sugar is evenly mixed.
- to assemble roll out half the dough to approximately a 1/4 inch thickness. cover pie plate, trim, poke air holes, and pinch in edges.
- add filling, and top with the second half of dough (note: i did a lattice top, but any style will work as long as you have slits for steam to be released)
- cook at 400 degrees for 25 minutes, turn temperature down to 350 degrees and cook for another 30 minutes.
- let pie cool to room temperature to set before slicing.