Anyone who knows me well knows I don’t like strawberry rhubarb pie; my appologies to cooks everywhere but I think cooked strawberries are one of the nastiest things ever—taste and texture are both ruined by cooking as far as I am concerned.
But this pie, devised by Narsai David, food writer and the one-time owner of the café at Magnin’s in San Francisco, is very different. A fully-baked crust is filled with rhubarb that is cooked on the stove, chilled, and topped with cream and sliced berries.
The contrast between the tart, soft rhubarb and the sweet, uncooked berries is wonderful, and the cream brings it all together. This is also a good pie for those who are pie-shy since only the crust need be baked; in fact, I think this pie would be just as good using a graham cracker or cookie crust (maybe gingersnaps) which is even easier.
Narsai’s Summer Rhubarb Strawberry Pie
An 8- or 9-inch pie shell
1 pound rhubarb, washed and cut into 1-inch thick slices
½ cup sugar
Juice and grated rind of half a lemon
2 tablespoon cornstarch blended with 3 tablespoons water
Pinch of salt
1 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pint strawberries, washed, hulled, and halved if the berries are small or sliced if they are large
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Bake pie shell for 10 minutes then lower heat to 375 degrees and continue to bake until golden and crisp; the pie is not baked once it is assembled so the crust needs to be fully cooked.
Place the rhubarb, sugar, salt and lemon into a skillet over medium-high heat, bring to a boil and begin to add some of the cornstarch slurry, starting with about half of it, stirring constantly. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the rhubarb is tender.
It will thicken up more while it chills, but if you feel it isn’t thick enough (about like a cooked pudding should be), add a bit more of the cornstarch and cook for another minute. Pour into shell and refrigerate until completely chilled.
Whip the cream in a chilled bowl and until soft peaks form; beat in sugar and vanilla. Spread over the pie and garnish with the berries.
Serves 8
5 Comments
January 22, 2009 at 11:20 pm
so if you’re only starting with half the cornstarch, and then using a bit more, why not just cut that part by a third?
January 22, 2009 at 11:55 pm
It allows for extra in case it is needed since rhubarb can be very watery sometimes; it might be wasted, but it saves having to mix up more while you are already doing the cooking. And a tablespoon of cornstarch is not excessive waste.
January 24, 2009 at 4:27 am
This is intriguing. I’m a rhubarb-sans-strawberries girl myself; I’ll have to give this a go, once spring arrives.
June 8, 2009 at 1:34 am
I was at a cafe on a beach somewhere and the pie they had made used rhubarb and banana – it was a superb combination. Maybe you can try this sometime.
June 8, 2009 at 3:26 am
Interesting- I would never have thought of that. I mean, never. I am trying to taste it in my head, but I think I’ll have to just make it to be sure.