I found one of the first crops of rhubarb at the farmer’s market last week at the Crystal Springs stand of Six River Farm of Bowdoinham. I asked how they were able to harvest it so early and the answer was that it was grown on raised beds under cover and an early season for this popular spring fruit sprang forth.
Rhubarb stores well refrigerated, but I couldn’t resist making a pie with these precious stalks right away. I had frozen strawberries from last year’s crop and easily put together a classic strawberry rhubarb pie.
I published my recipe last year in a June 10, 2015 edition of The Golden Dish, and here we are a year later and a month earlier, the fast-forward crop appearing so soon. At the time I called it the Ultimate Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. This time I christen it The Fabulously Ultimate Strawberry Rhubarb Pie.
I made the pie to bring to a friend’s house for dinner on Sunday night and was excited to tote it in a present I got from my hostess of a Pie Box that was offered on the excellent food site, Food 52.
I tweaked the recipe from last year and have to say it one was of the best versions of this classic pie. The pastry dough was a little richer than usual with slightly more butter and lard in the mix. Since I was worried about the thawed berries being too watery for the filling, I increased the amount of flour thickener in the filling to compensate. If you use fresh seasonal berries, don’t add the extra tablespoon flour.
I increased slightly the unusual addition of freshly grated nutmeg called for in the recipe; you don’t want too much but a judicious few extra gratings of nutmeg made its distinctive flavor really shine.
Here is the updated recipe for this great spring-summer pie.
Ingredients
- Pastry dough
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher or freshly ground sea salt
- 8.1 ounces (2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into cubes and chilled
- 2.1 ounces (5 tablespoons freshly rendered lard), cut into small pieces and chilled
- 1/2 cup or slightly more ice water
- Filling
- Generous 3 cups cut up rhubarb
- 1 1/2 cups strawberries (drained and thawed if frozen) cut in half
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
- Very generous (about 1/2 teaspoon) freshly grated nutmeg
- Pinch kosher or freshly ground sea salt
- 4 tablespoons butter, cut into cubes
- About 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- Dusting of sugar
- Extra 2 tablespoons butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees before you’re ready to bake the pie.
- Pastry. Prepare the dough by putting the flour, sugar and salt into the workbowl of the food processor and pulse a few times to combine.
- Add most of the butter and lard (reserving a few tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon lard) and process, pulsing 8 times until the fat is incorporated into the flour resulting in pea-size pieces of butter-flour. Add the remaining butter and lard and pulse a few times so that the chunks are slightly larger than the preceding. This method will produce an extra flaky crust.
- Add the water gradually, pulsing, until the dough comes together and just leaves the sides of the bowl. It will be slightly moist.
- Dump out onto a lightly floured work surface and form into a ball; cut in half, knead once or twice, gently patting down to disks that are about 2 inches thick; wrap each piece in plastic wrap.
- Chill for at least 1 hour or overnight.
- Roll out one of the halves of dough and line a 9-inch pie plate with it, leaving an inch overhang; allow to rest chilled 30 minutes.
- Filling. Meanwhile measure the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix well. Add the prepared fruit and spices and combine with your hands making sure every piece is coated with the flour mixture.
- Put the filling into the pastry case. Dot the top with the 4 tablespoons cubes of butter. Roll out the second pastry half and affix to the pie in the usual manner, cutting the overhang to 1 inch. Fold both doughs under and crimp to make a decorative border. Chill this for 15 to 30 minutes.
- Brush the top of the pie with the cream and sprinkle a few tablespoons of sugar over the top. Make 4 to 5 slits on the pie for steam to escape.
- Put the pie on a large baking sheet lined with parchment. Put on the lower third of the oven and bake for 50 minutes or until the filling is bubbling and the top is nicely golden.
- Remove the pie to a rack and brush the top with melted butter.
- Allow to cool until just warm and serve with vanilla ice cream.