The things we do for our art

[madbaker]

It was Too Damn Hot last night. I had trouble sleeping (some caffeine this AM, probably much more needed tomorrow) even with the fan going. Galen doesn't like air blowing, so at least he didn't wash me much during the night. He only got up the courage to do so after the alarm went off.

Since it was Too Damn Hot, what did I do late yesterday afternoon? Run the oven for several hours!
Sheesh.

This week's Resolution Recipe: Strawberry-Rhubarb pie.

double pie crust
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons white flour
1.5 cups rhubarb, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1.5 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
1 tbsp zested lemon rind
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp rose-water
turbinado sugar

Heat oven to 450. Roll out bottom crust. Beat eggs slightly. Beat sugar and flour into eggs and add lemon zest and juice. Combine with rhubarb and strawberries and pour into bottom crust. Cut remaining top crust into lattice and weave or otherwise assemble in a pretty fashion on top. Brush lattice with butter and rose-water, sprinkle sugar over. Put pie in oven, turn down temperatrure to 350 and bake for 40 minutes.
Goes great with whipped cream. Then again, most things do.

Comments: I liked it. The rhubarb wasn't too puckeringly sour and set off the strawberries nicely - not too sweet. The rhubarb also soaked up the strawberry juice nicely, so that this was not a liquid pie with a dissolved bottom crust.

I'd eat this again. Heck, I'd make it again and I kind of loathe lattice-work crusts. My only major change would be the addition of 1 tsp or so true cinnamon; the floral notes in true cinnamon would bring out the strawberries beautifully as well as zinging them up a bit. More strawberries probably wouldn't hurt either; there was more room in the pie before I latticed the top crust over.

Comments

[loup_noir]

My Swedish mother fed me lots of rhubarb. I love the stuff, but I like tart. She used to cut it into sections and stew it until it turned into a kind of goo, sweeten it to taste and we'd eat that as a dessert. I tried it a few years ago and liked it alot; however, the other half wasn't nearly as keen on it.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

I hadn't eaten rhubarb in over 20 years, so this was a leap. My dad grows the stuff and I came back with several pies' worth, so I thought I'd give it a go. This wasn't nearly as tart as I expected; I imagine I could increase the rhubarb significantly before I pucker too much. I like tart, too.

My grandmother made rhubarb dishes weekly, at a guess. Her standard was rhubarb-and-whatever-fruit-is-available pie, though.

[corva.livejournal.com]

That is my most favorite pie! As soon as I have a bit more of me to put into things like baking (and cooking and the rest of the domestic plane) I'll give your's a go!

PS: It was ugly hot here last night as well. Where is our sweet cooling fog?

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

Posted elsewhere (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/07/18/PKGMJ6I0PD1.DTL), but probably worth doing so here too.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

""It's foggy out there, but it's going to be just fine later." Why isn't it just fine now?"

I agree completely. I love rain, and snow. I liked them some before the 7 yrs in CA, but I love them even more now.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

An SCA friend here in MA has ten-foot-high rhubarb. It boggles the mind. I'm used to my Mom's (Maine) sedate 3 footers.

[aastg.livejournal.com]

What is "turbinado" surgar? Do you make it with a steam turbine? Does Williams-Sonoma carry those?

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

"These large crystals of light brown sugar are prepared from the unrefined, minimally processed, juice of sugar cane. The juice is spun out of the cane, thus the name Turbinado."

I think you can find individual-sized sugar cane turbines at Sur La Table, next to the creme brulee blowtorches.