Even for a woman who has been ignoring the rhubarb for a solid two months, the rhubarb has been kind this year. Our rhubarb season has been lengthened because of the weather, and we still have the beautiful ruby stalks available to us at our greenmarket. That rhubarb, along with the last of the wild strawberries and some frozen blueberries that were left over from last month’s cold spell, called out to be bundled up and baked into a delicious pie.
The fate of the fruits was decided as soon as I saw a post for Bon Appetit’s Strawberry-Rhubarb pie over at Alyson’s Milk Eggs Chocolate Blog.
I’ve changed the filling around a lot to suit our tastes and to use what we had on hand. The crust, a brilliant one, is true to the recipe. My daughter loves to make pies with me. She is getting very good at the whole process, which is something of which I can truly say that I’m so proud. I did not learn how to roll out pie crust till I was about 20!
So, huge thanks to Alyson who inspired us to make a pie instead of our customary crumble. Yum.
Berry Rhubarb Pie
For the crust:
*1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
*2 c. unbleached white flour
*2 T. sugar
*2 t. salt
*pinch of cinnamon
*18 T. unsalted butter (2 1/4 sticks), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
*8 T. ice water (and maybe more)
*1/2 t. apple cider vinegar
In a food processor,*** blend together the flours, the sugar, salt, and cinnamon. This is the part where you let your mini-chef press the “ON” button and go to town. Add the butter and pulse for 1 second as many times as it takes to make a very coarse meal. Note with your mini-chef what exactly that looks like. Demonstrate with your hand or a found object what size the butter should be (e.g. an acorn? an edamame bean? a fairy hat?).
Add the ice water and the vinegar and continue to pulse till your dough starts to hang together, clumping around the blade in your food processor. If you find that you need a bit more liquid, then add some more of the ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
Lay out two long pieces of plastic wrap on your counter. Unplug your food processor and open the top. (Keep your Yummy far away from the blade!) Divide the dough in half and place each halve on top of the awaiting plastic wrap. With your mini-chef, shape each halve into a ball and then smish it flat into a pancake. We like to use the plastic wrap to do the shaping so that we never actually touch the dough once it has been divided (makes for a more tender crust). We fold the plastic wrap over the whole thing and do our sculpting. Make sure that your “pancakes” are completely covered in the plastic wrap before you place them in the fridge for at least 45 minutes, maybe a little longer on a very hot day.
For the Filling:
*3 1/2 c. rhubarb, scrubbed and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
*2 1/2 c. strawberries, hulled and chopped in 1/2 (small berries) or into quarters (large)
*2 c. blueberries
*1 t. vanilla
*1 T. fresh lemon juice
*3/4 c. brown sugar
*1/4 c. sugar or 1 T. agave
*1 T. flour
*1/3 c. cornstarch
*and extra 2 T, sugar for sprinkling on top of the pie
Big Person: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
Together: Get out your biggest bowl. With your Yummy, measure out all of the ingredients into that bowl and have them toss the whole mess with their hands.
Pie time! Flour your counter and have a little bowl of flour on hand to roll out the other crust. Undo the plastic wrap around one of the dough pancakes, and put the dough down onto your floured counter. Lay the plastic wrap one top of the dough, covering the surface. You may need one more sheet of plastic wrap to roll out the crust depending on the width of your wrap.
Now have your mini-chef do some rolling. If they are very little, roll with them the entire time. If they are a little older, give them a set amount of time for their turn and then take your turn for a set amount of time. 10 seconds works well. When you have completed your turn, rotate the crust 45 degrees. In this way, roll out the crust so that it ends up being about 1/8- inch.
With your pie plate at the ready, pick up the crust, plastic still on top, and place the crust over the plate. Nestle the crust down into the plate, pressing onto the sides. You should have some nice overhang. Now, peel the plastic off of the top.
Have your mini-chef use their hands to scoop the filling into the crust and smooth the fruit out. Do not pour the filling into the crust since you want to leave behind any extra juices in the bowl.
Repeat the rolling out process with the second dough pancake. This time you will drape the crust over the top of the fruit.
Big Person: Using kitchen scissors, cut off the overhang, all around, so that it just hangs about 1/4-inch over the rim of the pie plate.
Together: Allow your mini-chef to help you turn the edge under. You can press it with a fork if they are very young, or you can sculpt the edge as you see fit.
With a dinner knife, cut some vents in the top of the pie. Sprinkle the top of the pie with the reserved sugar.
Big Person: Put the pie in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for another 25-30 minutes longer, till the crust turns golden and you see a bit of bubbling going on when peeking through the vents. Take out of the oven and cool for at least 30 minutes- an hour before eating.
*** You can, of course, make your crust the more traditional way, by hand, with a pastry cutter or a couple of dinner knives. If you’re using the food processor, never EVER let your child near the blade and never let them stick their hand into the bowl of the food processor at all. Period.
