Image by kloppster
Recipe
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold butter
1/2 cup cold lard
1/2 cup cold water5 cups rhubarb
2 cups strawberries
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
zeset of 1/2 orange
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold butterFirst step with most pies is to prepare the pie crust. You will want to do this at least 1 hour (if not longer) before you start to bake your pie. I have come to find the best and easiest way to make pie crust is in a food processor.
To use your food processor, put the flour sugar and salt into the bowl, and pulse a few times to mix. Then scatter the cold butter throughout the bowl and pulse 5-6 times. Fluff with a fork, then sprinkle the lard throughout the bowl, and pulse again 5-6 times. Fluff once more, then drizzle in 1/2 the cold water and pulse again another 5-6 times. Fluff, add remaining water, and finish with a final 5-6 pulses. The pie pastry should be crumbly at this point. Dump the pastry into a bowl and work into two balls, one a little larger than the other. Then flatten each ball into a disc about 3/4″ thick. Cover each with plastic wrap and place in the fridge.
Once the pastry has spent at least an hour in the fridge take larger disc out and put on a floured surface and roll out to be a good 12 inches. Gentle fold the pastry twice and place into the pie plate. Once in the plate you can unfold the pastry to fill the plate. Tuck the pastry into the pan by lifting around the outside so it slides in. You do not want to stretch the pastry. Let any remaining pastry overhang the plate. Put the plate and pastry back into the fridge while you prepare the rest of the pie.
Cut the rhubarb and combine with strawberries in a large bowl. Add the sugar, orange juice, zest, salt and nutmeg. mix well then set aside for 10-20 minutes. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
In a small bowl combine your corn starch and an additional 2 tablespoons of sugar, then mix into your bowl of fruit. By this time there should be a lot of juices from the rhubarb to mix into. Take the pie plate out of the fridge, and pour the fruit into the pie shell. Dot the top of the filling with butter.
Now it is time to do the lattice. Take the second disc out of the fridge and roll it out on a floured surface to be about 10 inches. Cut the rolled pastry into 8 wide strips. Now apply the lattice to the top of the pie as per the photos above. Use a pastry brush and some water to attach the lattice to the sides of the pie. Then cut off any extra overhanging pastry around the pie plate. Lastly brush the top of the lattice with milk or water, then sprinkle sugar on top. Now we are ready to bake.
Put the pie into the oven and bake for about 25-30 minutes. It should start to be getting a nice golden color. After this time rotate the pie 180 degrees. At this point you may want to put a pan under the pie plate on a lower rack to catch any bubbled over juices. Finally bake for an additional 25 minutes or so. You will want to see the filling and juices starting to bubble up. Remove the pie from the oven and let stand for a good 2-3 hours before eating. That is it, Rhubarb Strawberry Pie.
Notes: In the future I would not add the orange juice or zest out of personal preference. Also I find that rhubarb has enough juice on it’s own, that adding the orange juice just made the pie a bit runny. If you decide to keep the OJ in, I would suggest adding a bit more corn starch to counter act the additional liquid in the pie.
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I am definitely going to give this recipe a second try. Next time without the orange juice and zest, perhaps with a bit more cornstarch. I would also like to try this recipe without the strawberries, and have the filling be all rhubarb. If you try this recipe post a comment and let me know if you liked it or not.
