Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

I am grateful (don’t get me wrong), that we can get strawberries all year long. However, there is absolutely nothing that beats a local Washington strawberry.  I know for a fact that all of the strawberries for Häagen Daz ice cream come from Washington and Oregon.

These local berries are red through and through. None of that white woody center. The only thing I’ve tasted sweeter are the teeny tiny wild strawberries you sometimes find in meadows.

And any connoisseur will tell you they must be processed on the day they are picked. (I learned that from experience. Nothing like waking up to 3 flats of hairy strawberries!)

Sadly, it’s been a very short, very late season this year. We didn’t get out to the fields to pick this year. However, I did get a flat at my favorite farmer’s market and put half a dozen strawberry rhubarb pies in the freezer. (It can’t be an accident that rhubarb and strawberries are ripe at the same time.)

If you aren’t a pie lover or maker, you can just make the filling, put the crumbly topping on, and you have a crisp. Here’s my no-longer-secret recipe:

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie:

One unbaked pie crust

Filling
4 cups diced rhubarb (about ¾” inch in length)
3 cups sliced strawberries
1 ½ cups sugar
4 T instant tapioca
1 t orange zest

• combine all filling ingredients and stir well

Crumb Topping
¾ cup flour
¾ cup sugar
¾ t salt
6 T cold butter, diced

• mix the flour, sugar and salt
• cut in the butter until the topping is crumbly

1. Pour the filling into an unbaked pie crust.
2. Sprinkle the crumb topping. I press it in a little.
3. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes.
4. Reduce the oven temperature to 350° and bake an additional 35 minutes, until filling is hot and bubbly, and topping is lightly browned.

If you are going to freeze this pie, freeze the pie unbaked, and do not thaw before baking. Note that it will take significantly longer to bake.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who thinks that Strawberry Rhubarb pie MUST be served with vanilla ice cream!