Mom's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Every so often I mention that I love pie.  I mean I love everything about pie.  I love crust.  I love filling.  I love the crimped edges.  I love the smell of it in the oven.   I love pie.  And this is my all time favorite pie in the whole world. 

So go ahead.  Say it's old fashioned.  Say it's been done.  But this is my mom's recipe.  This is just plain good. 






Mom's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

1 homemade double pie crust.  Recipe of your choice.

1 1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. grated orange peel

3 c. rhubarb, cleaned and cut.  My mom's notes say "1/2 inch pieces," and I always do what my mother says.

2 c. strawberries.  We are still using California strawberries.  They aren't ripe yet here.  But there is always hope.

2 T. butter.  My mother's recipe actually calls for margarine, but I haven't used it for many years

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 

Mix sugar, flour and orange peel in a small bowl and set aside.  In another bowl, mix the fruit.

Turn half of the fruit into prepared bottom pie crust; sprinkle with half the sugar mixture. 

Repeat with remaining fruit and sugar.  Dot the top of the pie with small pieces of the butter.  Top with the pie crust.  Crimp the edges and poke slits in the crust for air to escape.  

Cover the edges with aluminum foil or other protection from getting too brown. 

My Mom's notes say "Bake until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through the slits in the crust, 40 to 50 minutes."  Mom never had a clean oven a day in her life and neither have I.

Thanksgiving Pie

We'll have a mincemeat pie and a pumpkin pie. 

Why mincemeat?  see this link - http://dinnerattheosbornes.blogspot.com/2010/09/grandma-streckers-old-fashioned-mince.html  Or because I want to.

Why pumpkin?  Because my darling step grand daughter wants it.  Not just pumpkin pie, but pumpkin pie with Cool Whip.  Not some fancy version that is being pushed on Food network.  Just basic pumpkin pie with Cool Whip.  And by golly, that's what she is getting.  I'll use the Libby's pumpkin recipe, not because it is fabulous, but because it is satisfying.   Actually, I make a pretty decent pumpkin cheese cake which I clipped out of Gourmet magazine some years ago, but we'll save that for another year.  

So I planned this out, really I did.  I'm good at planning things out.  It's one of the best things I do.  But really, we had so freaking much fun, that I didn't take any pictures.  Step grand daughter came over to help me make pie crust.  It is one of my greatest fantasies that SOMEONE WILL LET ME TEACH THEM HOW TO MAKE PIE CRUST.  I mean really!  If step grand daughter doesn't learn, there is a younger one.  Remember to teach what you know.

"What is shortening?" says my lovely girl.  "Well,  It's kind of like oil," I say.  "Oil?" says my brilliant girl.  "Uiooooooo!"

But make pie crust we did.   I measured and she mixed.  Well, she measured some.  I cleaned up the spills, some.  But that's okay.  I told her that a cook's best tool is her hands.  We then washed well and mixed the dough by hand.  We said it was like play-do but we will eat it.  Oh, yes.  We had fun.

Dad (step son) came by, for a bit.  Step grand daughter lost interest for a while.  Making pie is not an easy task.  But she came back and taught me a song which had the main lyric "I wouldn't want to be a turkey on Thanksgiving day,  Oh Yeah." 

My mother cut up left over pie crust and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, then baked.  We did that today and ate it like cookies.  And yes, that is just as disgusting as it sounds to the adult palate, but children just love it and we ate a ton of it at the Osbornes today. God help us.

Papa joined in. Girls, he is pretty darned good at changing diapers, finding binky, and filling sipper cups. But he is taken, sorry. The truth is that the children often prefer him, because he is so warm and open and just a really nice guy.

The pie crusts are packed away in their pie plates and wrapped in plastic.  We'll bake them tomorrow.

After carefully cleaning the sink, we unwrapped the Butterball that had been defrosting in my fridge the last 4 days.  We rinsed it and dried it and put in the roasting pan.  Step grand daughter and I had an extended discussion about it - mostly where it's boobs were and where it's butt was.  We looked inside it. She pointed out that she could see it's bones.  She wanted to see the giblets, which we simmered on the stove and will give to the dog tomorrow.  Mostly, everything about the turkey was icky and disgusting, but we will eat it tomorrow.

Remember to look eye ball to eye ball at your food and remember to involve others.  Oh, and remember to enjoy yourself.  

My Mom's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

As Step Son is to be married tomorrow, and family is gathering, I am making happy occasion food.  Do you know what I mean?  Is there food that means fatigue or sick, happy or sad to you?  I realize not everyone has this relationship with food and life. This is my mom's recipe in her hand writing.  I can't remember exactly how I got it, when she gave it to me or under what situation, but I have had it for a very long time.

Mom's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
1 1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. grated orange peel  (opt)
3 c. cut up rhubarb (1/2 inch pieces)
3 c. strawberries, sliced
2 T. butter 
A double pie crust

Arrange the bottom pie crust in a pie plate that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Combine all other ingredients and mix well.  Pour into prepared crust. 

Add top crust and crimp edges.  Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees until done. 

Remember to celebrate happy occasions with happy food.

Grandma Strecker's Old Fashioned Mince Meat.

This is the taste of my childhood.  Here is the recipe exactly as it was handed down to me by my mother.  'Nuff said.

Grandma Strecker's Old Fashioned Mince Meat Pie Filling.
1 1/4 lb hamburger, cooked
1 lb raisins
1 11 oz box currents
2 1/2 qts cooked tart apples, my mother prefer Gravensteins.
2 1/4 c. sugar
2 lemons, juiced
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. molasses
1/4t + 1/8 t. each cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon
1/2 t. allspice

Combine cooked apples and cooked hamburger.  Add remaining ingredients in a large stew pot.  Boil a few minutes.  Pack in quart canning jars and  freeze.  Makes three or four quarts.

My mother froze it in canning jars as mentioned.  See the photo.  I've only opened the freezer 3 times to look at this since I put it in there.  I love freezers.  My grandmother canned this, but you must not.  It could probably be done safely with a pressure cooker, but I do not have the expertise to tell you how.  The way my grandmother canned this is not currently considered safe, although they all lived long and vibrant lives with constitutions of a quarter horse.  Really.  Freeze it. 

And now the family pie crust just the way I was taught. 

http://dinnerattheosbornes.blogspot.com/2009/11/all-for-love-of-pie-crust-installment-i.html

http://dinnerattheosbornes.blogspot.com/2009/11/all-for-love-of-pie-crust-installment-2.html

Just one thing more things.  Here is how my new local hamburger meat from the butcher comes wrapped. 

Cute huh?

Remember to make something special for those you love.

Rhubarb Pie

I've been bad all week and it's only Wednesday.  The rhubarb pie thing started this morning when I had the idle thought that I'd love to make one and I'd love to eat one.  This was one of my estimating days.  I have two jobs for my company.  One job is as commerical HVAC estimator.  I look at plans and estimate our costs, submitting our bid to general contractors.  That was today.  The other job is operations manager.  I oversee certain functions of the operations of our business. 

Anyway, about the time I started thinking about Rhubarb Pie, I started smelling it.  The tart and the sweet together.  The little tingle at the nose.  All day I smelled it as I worked with plans and my scaling ruler.  I never said I wasn't nuts.

By mid afternoon, I knew I'd be skipping yoga and making a rhubarb pie.  I rushed home complete obsessed with the idea.  I've known people who have trouble with pie crust.  I was destined to make pie crust.  I have pie crust karma.  I simply love the stuff.  To me, it means a comfortable, warm and safe house where everyone is happy and everything will be okay.  Obviously, my mother made a lot of the stuff when I was a kid and that's where all this emotion comes from.  I still have hopes that I am influencing someone in my life this way.  We'll see. 

But the recipe is no mystery.  It is the one inside my old reliable cookbook.

2 c. all purpose flour

1 t. salt

2/3 cup shortening.
6 T. ice cold water.

Flour and salt into a large bowl.  Then the shortening.  I promise you ice water is best. I literally start with water with ice in it and measure the water into the bowl.

Mix with a spoon for a little while, but soon your best tool is clean hands.  Take off your rings, wash your hands and dive in.  It feels good.  Squish it together then press down with your palm. 

When it is fully incorporated, cut it in half.

Now the fun part.  Flour the center of your board. Don't have a board?  Wash your counter well and do it there.  My board is marble, but my mom used a wood board made by my dad.  We called it the Bread Board.  Don't let this be about something new to buy.  People have been making pies since before there were stuff to buy.

A sprinkle of flour on the top and use the rolling pin to make a flattened circle.  Roll first from the upper right corner to the lower left corner. 

Then roll again to from the upper left corner to the lower right corner.  Turn it over and turn it a quarter turn.  Sprinkle with flour again and roll again.  Part of my rolling ritual is to rub the top with my hand each time.  The surface should be cool and dry.  If it is at all sticky or moist add flour and rub. 

Here is one of the many places in life that you have the opportunity to enjoy yourself.  Take the opportunity.  Be the dough.  Feel the zen of the dough.  

Continue until you have a thin pie crust.  Fold it in half and lay it in a prepared pie plate.  You can prepare it by spraying it with cooking spray or just dip into the shortening with fingertips and rub the pan with shortening. 

4 cups rhubarb, cleaned and sliced.  I've got it in my colander.  The colander is in a bowl in my sink.  Pour the kettle of hot water over the rhubarb.  Actually, I dumped it into the bowl to soak and soften for a few minutes while I rolled out the other pie crust.  Then I drained off the water by dumping the rhubarb back into the colander. 

1 1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. all purpose flour

1 egg with about 2 t. of cold water.  

I whisked it a bit with my new french whisk.

Combine the sugar, flour, softened rhubarb and egg mixture in the bowl and turned it into the crust.

Lay the top crust over.  

And crimp.  Cut away the extray crust.  Make sure to eat a little of the raw dough.  It's good for you. Bake for 40 - 50 minutes at 350 degrees or until the top is lightly browned. 

You may notice to the left of this picture that I have a helper.  He is really never far away, but he is particularly helpful when he thinks there is food.  Can't imagine why he would think he is going to get anything!  Yummy and just what I needed.  The taste of spring. 

My mom made Strawberry Rhubarb Pie which was our all time favorite.  I have her recipe.  As soon as local strawberries are ready, you know what I'll be doing.  Good medicine for whatever is ailing you.  Remember to take your medicine.

Husband's Pie

My husband is a carnivore, a mountain man, a lone wolf.  He does not have a sweet tooth and rarely eats dessert.  Oh, he'll eat ice cream, but that's about it.  This presents a problem.  One of favorite all time things, well besides King Crab, artichokes in butter, steamed clams, Josh's barbecued ribs, shrimp prepared any way, is pie.  To be more precise, pie crust.  I absolutely love the stuff.  It makes me dream of lovely afternoons helping my grandmother make mincemeat and peeling apples for my mom.  It makes me warm and comfortable.  I can smell it now as I write this.  I love pie crust and I make a pretty good one.  I blogged about it for days already, see November 6 "All for the love of pie crust, installment 1" and November 8 "All for the love of pie crust, installment 2" for the recipe and the Zen of Pie.

I suppose it's for the best, that Husband does eat much pie.  We'd both be as big as a house.  But there is one pie that he asks for.  A very simple thing.  Not really even a recipe.  This is Husband's pie (Or Lemon Meringue).

It starts with a baked pie crust.  See my previous pie posts for the recipe.  Just the bottom crust for this one.  Crimp it and poke holes with a knife in the bottom. 

I love kitchen gadgets, but there are many which are unnecessary in my opinion.  Do what you like.  There are weights you can buy to put in the buttom of the pie crust while baking. The fear is the very high heat that this cooks at will cause the bottom to puff up.  I've been doing this all my life and never really had a problem. 

Bake the pie crust at 450 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden.  Allow to cool. 

And here is my favorite helper.  She is the perfect child and the subject of my December 5 post.  I hope she will think of me as she cooks after I am gone.  She has the same desire to taste and touch.  She is curious and courageous.  Today, she has a new card game.  Unlike me, she doesn't really care what the instructions say and she is teaching me the game by her rules.

Next, the filling.  One 4.3 oz box of Jello cook & serve lemon pudding.  Yes, I know.  I never cook with powder and I never cook with something if I don't understand the ingredient list, but this is an exception.  My helper wants a taste, a little goes on her plate.  "Yum," she says.  The rest, well after the spoonfuls I eat, go into the prepared pie crust.  It's a wonder I'm not huge. 

Now meringue.  A touchy subject for some.  For me also, until I decided it didn't have to be perfect.  For years, I've said about pie crust, "A messy pie crust is better than no pie crust."  As it is with meringue. 

Beat 3 egg whites in a large bowl on high speed until foamy.  Gradually add 1/3 c. sugar until stiff peaks form.  I'm not a cream of tartar person.  Someone out there may think I'm wrong about that, but oh well.  Spread meringue over filling with a spatula, sealling the edges.  I always try to make the curly-q in the merinugue on top.  It never turns out the way I want.  Oh well.  Old habits die hard.

Cool the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the meringue is browned.  Cool to just warm or to room temp.

Anything that looks imperfect about this was intended.

  

And remember.  If life throws you lemon, well, make lemon pie.

Turkey pot pie / Stop and smell the Pie Crust

If you cut me, I bleed pie crust.  I don't know how else to say it.  I just love the stuff.  It empowers me.  I wrap everything in it. I find inspiration and Joie de vivre in pie crust.  It makes me happy.  To see how truly goofy I am about the stuff, see my 11/6/09 and 11/8/09 posts.
Turkey pot pie

1 T. oil

1T. butter

1/4 c. flour

1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped

2 stalks celery finely chopped

1 cup of chopped purple cabbage

1 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
1/4 t. poultry seasoning
1 Bay leaf
2 carrots, peeled and chopped.
2 small yellow potatoes, peeleed and chopped
1/4 c. frozen peas.
2 cups shredded turkey dark meat
1 cup of the liquid the carrots and potatoes were cooked in
1 cup of 1/2 and 1/2
A double sided uncooked pie crust

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Heat oil and butter in a large skillet.  Add onion, celery, salt, pepper and poultry seasoning.  Add a Bay leaf for flavor which you will fish out later.  Cook until everything is soft. Add the flour and combine.  Meanwhile, in a sauce pan, cook the carrots until they are soft but not mushy.  Remove them with a slotted spoon into the skillet and repeat with the potatoes.    

Add the cooked potatoes to the rest and add the peas and the turkey.

Add the vegetable liquid and the 1/2 and 1/2 Cook, turning, until everything is well heated.  The flour and liquid start to thicken into a sauce.  Let it similar briefly.  Remember to find and remove the bay leaf.  This makes a lot of filling, so I use my deep dish pie pans.

Lay the first uncooked crust in a well sprayed pie pan.  Press the crust in place.  Spoon the thickened filling into the pie crust.  Lay the top crust overall.

An interesting thing happened here.  My top crust fell apart.  I've been doing this since before I was a grown up.  For forty years.  Of the things I'm pretty good at, this ranks really high and I messed it up.

Again, the zen of the pie crust.  It is only shortening, salt, flour and water.  What is the worse thing that could happen.  Start over?  Forgive yourself. It doesn't have to be perfect.  Pat it in place and keep going.   Messy pie crust is always better than no pie crust.

Crimp the edges (see November posts).  Cover the crimped edges with foil.  Poke holes in the top and bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly hot.  In this case I brushed the top with an egg white.  I do that with savory pies, but not with sweet.  The result is a different color as it browns.

Remember to be happy.

All for the Love of Pie Crust - Installment 2

With the rolling pin, lightly roll one way, then the next. Stop. Rub the dough with flour. Turn it over. Roll it lightly one way then the next.





Stop and flour it. Turn it over again and repeat as the size of the dough gets larger and larger. Try to keep it as round as possible. If it starts to get oblong, roll more in the other direction until it starts to get round. Stop frequently and flour it and turn it.

Please stop and enjoy this. I think it is a very pleasurable thing to do. Almost like a sculpter revealing the inner piece of art from the block of clay. You are creating the inner pie from a lump of shortening, flour, salt and water. Try to see the infinite possibilities of the universe from this. If this is possible, what more fantastic and amazing things might you be able to achieve. Allow the pie crust to empower you. I know I'm crazy about this stuff, but perhaps there is something here you can take away for yourself. I hope.

Another lesson here is to be easy on yourself. A messy pie crust is always better than no pie crust. If it starts to tear, press down on the tear to seal it. This recipe makes plenty for a top and a bottom crust. There is some for waste.

And what is the worse thing that will happen? Into the garbage and start over. A little more shortening, flour, water and salt. It is not worth ruining your day to fret over pie crust. Another good lesson to take into life.



Now lift the least attractive, least round of the two shells into a sprayed pie plate. Pat it gently into place.



Here are the apples. I was allowed to take a piece of apple and eat it now. Wet, sweet, almost drippy, cinnamon, nutmeg. I still do it. More than one. A few bits of butter on top. Touch the butter and smush it between my fingers. Total bliss.



lay the top crust overall and crimp the edge.




Cover the edges with aluminum foil or one of these cool little things and bake until it turns into a pie. I line my nastiest cookie sheet with aluminum foil and put it on the bottom rack. The pie is on the rack next higeher. Take the time to arrange your racks. The mujority of the oven is above the pie. My pies bubble over often, so the aluminum foil catches the bubble over.



The "B"? You need to poke some holes in the top for steam to excape. My mother poked holes in the shape of the initial of her maiden name, "R". The initial of my maiden name is "B".