Strawberry Rhubarb Pie or Crumble Recipe

I know that there are a lot of good Strawberry Rhubarb Pie recipes out there, but this one turned out soo well and is probably fool-proof so I thought I’d share.  I think it’s got just the right mix of sweet and tangy and thickened up beautifully – that can be a problem with rhubarb pies. I adapted most of this recipe from my beloved Mennonite cookbook, The Mennonite Treasury of Recipes.  This method takes a little more work than the normal “throw everything into the pie crust and bake” method but if you follow the instructions you should get perfect results!  (Scroll down for crumble directions)

Ingredients:

32 oz strawberries, hulled and cut into big bite-size pieces

6-8 stalks rhubarb, sliced into 1/2″ pieces

1 1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. flour

1/4-1/2 t. nutmeg

2 eggs, slightly beaten

pie crust for two pies (if you want to do the lattice on top like I did)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Roll out pie crust for bottom shell and bake 5 min (in a deep-dish pie pan).  Remove from oven and use some egg white to thinly coat the bottom of the crust.  Put back in the oven for about 5 min. more (you don’t want it to be completely done, just partially – the egg white is to seal the bottom crust so it doesn’t get soggy – yuck).

Put the prepared strawberries and rhubarb into a large deep pot or pan.  Add sugar and stir gently.  When juices start coming out, heat on very low.  When there is an actual syrup (a few min.) add the flour and nutmeg and turn off the heat.  Stir until blended, then add the eggs (if you had let it get to boiling, don’t add the eggs til it’s cooled off, you don’t want them to curdle – and if you did boil, then definitely lower the baking time).

Pour the slightly cooked fruit filling into the slightly cooked pie crust.  Cover with lattice (what I recommend) pie crust.  You can put some dabs of butter on if you like, I didn’t.  Bake at 350 F for 30-50 min – take it out when the top crust is browned.  Allow the pie to cool several hours, or the next day, then slice and enjoy!

Yields: 1 large pie

Crumble Directions:

Make the pie filling just like described above.  Put into a square or rectangular baking dish.  Top with a standard crumble topping.  This is what I did, approximately, for the crumble in the picture.

~1 c. plain oats

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. chopped dates