Strawberry rhubarb pie

Our organic order arrived today with lots of beautiful rhubarb, only I had no idea what to do with rhubarb. I'm not sure I'd ever had it before. So I made a pie. And since the order also came with strawberries, I threw a few of those in as well. Actually, quite a few. I looked up recipes and then made my own compiled version of those that I found, and wouldn't you know it? It was actually great. Jon said it was the best thing ever to come out of my kitchen (I'm still trying to decide if this is a compliment or not...), so here is what I think I did to make it...

Strawberry rhubarb filling (for 10 inch pie)

• 3.5 cups rhubarb stalks cut into 1/2 inch pieces (Trim outside stringy layer of large rhubarb stalks and remove any leaves.)
• 2.5 cup strawberries, stemmed and sliced
• 1 cup sugar
• Unbaked pastry for two-crust 10 inch pie

Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix the rhubarb and the strawberries with the sugar and let stand for 5-10 minutes (while you roll the pie crusts works well). Pour into a pie shell, then top with pie crust. Cut slits for steam and bake at 400°F for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350°F, and bake an additional 40-45 minutes longer. Cool on a rack.
Filling will be a bit runny if the pie is cut while it is still warm, but still really really good. If allow it to cool to room temperature, the juices will have more time to thicken.

I served this with homemade whipped cream - yum!

Pie crust

I tried this crust today and it was okay, but I like the crust I used with the pumpkin pie last fall better.

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
• 1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4 to 6 Tbsp ice water

Combine flour and salt, then cut in butter using a pastry knife (or your good old fashioned fingers) until you have pea size pieces of butter. Add ice water 1 Tbsp at a time until mixture just begins to clump together. Place dough ball on a clean surface and shape into 2 discs. Be careful not over-knead. You should be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Remove one crust disk from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 5 minutes then roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch circle, about 1/8 of an inch thick. Carefully place onto a (10 inch) pie plate and press down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Trim dough to within 1/2 inch of the edge of the pie dish.

After adding filling to the pie, roll out second disk as before. Gently place onto the top of the filling in the pie and pinch top and bottom crusts together. Trim excess, leaving a 3/4 inch overhang. Fold edges together and press, decorate with finger or fork as desired.