Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
I still hate pie crust.
ANYWAY. I recently made a trip up north to go to the best event in the whole world - The Minnesota State Fair. I love the fair with a love that knows no bounds. Aside from the fair, the weather was perfect. It was in the 70s during the day, and 50s at night so basically heaven. The beginning flirtations of fall were happening and it made me really miss living there. However, winter is coming and I think I will miss it a little less.
One of the days I went up to Long Lake to my friend Emily's cabin. I've been going up there for about 7 years now so it's basically tradition. She'll pick me up, we get Starbucks, I'm the DJ and expert vocalist in the car, and we stop at Main Street Cafe and get pies. This time, we got a peanut butter creme pie and a strawberry rhubarb pie. Though fall was only a few weeks away, I was craving the fresh flavors of spring and summer. And nothing reminds me of summer quite like coming back to Texas and 90+ degree weather.
So here I am at 10:00 PM starting these pies, not an unusual time by any means, but I knew I would be awake for a while so why not make some pies. I like to use cornstarch as my binding agent in pies because it helps thicken up the sauce and stabilize the pie when cooled.
Though it was late, I thought I was awake enough to bake. Red flag number one should have been the fact I was making three pies. Red flag number two should have been that I was putting them all in the oven at the same time. Red flag number three should have been that I didn't have any liner on the bottom of my oven to easily clean up spills.
whoops.
Pro tip: Line the bottom of your oven with something so you don't spend an hour cleaning a mess like this. Even though the mess was enormous, the pies were delicious and would be great if paired with a nice scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Enjoy!
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
4 cups of quartered strawberries
2.5 cups of 1-inch slices of rhubarb
1/2-3/4 cup sugar, plus extra for pie crust topping
Zest of 1 lemon
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 egg, whisked
Enough pie dough for two crusts (I used the Pillsbury roll & go dough from the refrigerated section of the grocery store)
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350-degrees Fahrenheit
Combine the strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, lemon zest and cornstarch in a big bowl. I like pies to be more tart, but feel free to add whatever amount of sugar you want.
Prepare your pie dish and lay one pie dough sheet in the bottom of the pie dish. Spoon in your filling and top with the other sheet of dough. I did several types of pie crust on the top – full sheet, lattice, cut outs. Coat the pie crust with your whisked egg by painting it on with a pastry brush. Sprinkle any extra sugar on top. Cover the pie crust with a sheet of aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes, take off the aluminum foil and then bake for an additional 30 minutes or until perfectly browned.