Snowmageddon II - Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

As Snowmageddon blew itself out late this afternoon, moving on after leaving us with something in the neighborhood of two feet of snow here in Arlington, I stayed warm and toasty indoors by baking a strawberry-rhubarb pie. The strawberries were the last of a batch I picked last summer, the rhubarb I found during a 7 am trip to the grocery store yesterday morning before the storm came in (no eggs left, but frozen rhubarb and pre-made pie crust were in stock and on sale!).

The recipe I used was quite similar to the one found in this post from May, with a few changes:
- I also added 1/2 tsp. of orange zest to the sugar / flour mixture.
- I used more strawberries (3 1/2 cups) than rhubarb (2 1/2 cups) this time around.
- Because I was using frozen fruit, I let the fruit / sugar / flour mixture stand for 45 minutes before pouring it into the pie plate - then increased the baking time to 1 hour 25 minutes (keep foil on the edges of the pie for the first hour).

The pie came out quite delicious - although very juicy. To avoid the hassle of having to clean out leaked juices from your oven, place the pie on a shallow baking sheet, or place the baking sheet on the rack below the pie.

Fresh Berries - Raspberry Lemonade and Berry Topping

Since 4th of July falls on a Saturday this year, Friday was a holiday for most folks around here. And for once, the weather in the DC area was gorgeous - temperatures hovered in the 70s or just at 80 for most of the day, the humidity was low, and the sun was shining. Which means it was perfect weather for going berry picking. This time around, I decided to try a new farm, Larriland Farm in Woodbine, MD. Larriland uses integrated pest management, so their fruits generally have much less pesticide burden than other farms. In addition, Larriland has a large selection of fruits and veggies for people to pick. I didn't get around to everything that was in season yesterday, but I did get about 15 pounds of berries - blueberries and three varieties of raspberries (black, purple, and red).

I'll be posting a number of berry recipes resulting from this haul in the coming day. [UPDATE: Recipes are now posted for raspberry-peach smoothie, blueberry muffins, raspberry-white chocolate scones, and black raspberry freezer jam.]

For starters, here are two fairly easy recipes that I'll be bringing to this evening's Fourth of July celebration.

Sparkling Raspberry Lemonade
I can't claim all the credit, since I found this recipe in the July issue of Martha Stewart Living. However, I have switched the proportions around a bit. Also, Martha suggests spiking with vodka, if that's your style.

Raspberry Simple Syrup
4 cups water
2 cups fresh raspberries (I used a mixture of black, purple, and red raspberries)
1 3/4 cups sugar

Sparkling Lemonade
2 quarts lemonade (homemade or storebought)
1 liter sparkling water
Raspberries and mint for garnish

1. Bring water, raspberries, and sugar to a boil in a large saucepan, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and gently mashing berries as you stir.

2. Strain mixture into a storage container and cool syrup. [Save the mashed berries to eat with yogurt or ice cream.]

3. In a large pitcher or punch bowl, combine raspberry syrup, lemonade, and sparking water. Serve over ice, garnish with fresh raspberries and mint.

Berry Topping (for angel food cake, pound cake, or ice cream)
4 cups berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc.)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. lemon juice

Lightly toss all ingredients together in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Serve berry topping over cake or ice cream and top with whipped cream.

Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Pie

A few weeks ago one of my friends down in South Carolina posted pictures of strawberry picking with her girls - and gosh those berries looked delicious! Well, strawberries are finally in season here in the DC area, and last weekend I went strawberry picking at Homestead Farm in Poolesville, MD and stocked up on fresh strawberries.* I used most of my berries (about 12 cups worth) for two strawberry pies - the remainder (about 4 cups worth) I froze. Two notes about this pie recipe: (1) the chocolate is completely optional - if you don't want a chocolate layer in the pie, it will come out delicious with just the fruit; (2) because the berries aren't cooked, the pies will be quite juicy - so be sure to eat within a day or two of making!

*Homestead has a great selection of fruit throughout the summer - check out some of my blackberry and peach (another peach) recipes from last year's haul.

Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Pie (~ 8 servings)
1 pie crust
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup water
6 cups strawberries, hulled
2 T. fresh lemon juice
2 T. butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 c. chocolate chips (I prefer dark chocolate - but white, milk, or dark will all work)

1. Prepare and bake a single pie crust, cool. I suggest using a store-bought frozen crust that is already formed into a pie plate for ease of preparation, but if you like to make your own crust, follow your favorite recipe.

2. Puree two cups of berries. In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and water. Stir in berry puree, lemon juice, and butter. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly (up to one hour).

3. Melt chocolate chips. [There are many ways to do this. One of the easiest is to fill a large pyrex measuring cup with boiling water and set a small bowl with chocolate chips on top of measuring cup. As chocolate softens, stir until smooth and liquid.] Pour chocolate over bottom of pie crust, forming a thin layer - use a spoon to spread if necessary.

4. Add 2 cups of berries to pie crust and pour half of puree mixture over berries. Add remaining berries and puree mixture. Refrigerate until cooled throughout, at least 4 hours.

5. Slice and serve. Top with whipped cream or ice cream!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

Rhubarb is one of those foods that defies classification - although cooked in pies and made into sauces like a fruit, it is actually a vegetable (leaf stalks, or petioles, to be exact). It's also the kind of food that, according to Garrison Keillor, isn't grown anywhere else except for here (here being wherever you happen to be) and which, when baked into a pie, can really revive a guy. My mom always kept a patch of rhubarb in the backyard while I was growing up, and back then the flow of rhubarb seemed endless. Then I moved out into the real world, and my rhubarb supply dried up. Occasionally, I'd find frozen rhubarb at the grocery store, or a stand at the farmers' market might have some. Grocery stores occasionally have it in the fresh produce section, but usually at exorbitant prices ($3.50 - $4 / pound). Then yesterday I found some really nice stalks in the corner of the grocery store - and on sale, too! As it happened, I also had about a half carton of strawberries in my refrigerator that really needed to be used up - and voila! I had the makings for an early summer strawberry-rhubarb pie.

The nice thing about strawberry-rhubarb pie is that you can adjust the ratio of strawberries to rhubarb and the amount of sugar / sweetener you put in, depending on how much of each you have available and how sweet you like your pie. For the pie I made last night, I used 2 cups of strawberries to 4 cups of rhubarb. If you prefer your rhubarb unadulterated, you can cut the strawberries out entirely - although you might want to up the sugar content a bit to offset the rhubarb's sharp taste.

Strawberry - Rhubarb Pie (8 servings)
2 pie crusts (store-bought or homemade)
1/2 cup sugar (or 12 packets no-calorie sweetener + 1/4 cup sugar)
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
dash ground nutmeg
6 cups sliced strawberries + rhubarb (2 cups strawberries + 4 cups rhubarb is a good place to start)

1. Pre-heat oven to 375F.

2. Line a 9 inch pie plate with one of the crusts and trim to edge of pie plate.

3. Stir together sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Add strawberries and rhubarb and toss until well-coated.

4. Pour strawberry - rhubarb mixture into pie plate, place second crust, fold edges under bottom crust and seal edge of pie. Cut vents in top crust.

5. Bake 50 minutes. If desired, place foil around edge of pie to protect crust during the first 25 minutes of baking. Cool pie on a wire rack after removing from oven.

6. Slice and serve pie - top with vanilla ice cream if desired!