We can attempt to teach the things that one might imagine the earth would teach us: silence, humility, holiness, connectedness, courtesy, beauty, celebration, giving, restoration, obligation and wildness.
David Orr from "Earth in Mind"

Jul 12, 2007

40 Days Strawberry Rhubarb Pie


I have been doing research on local foods for an article lately . One of the books that I have been reading is Barbara Kingsolvers "Animal Vegetable Miracle" which is about how her family ate locally for one 'growing' year. It got me thinking about how lucky I have been living in places where there is a lot of local food available. Last year we made a decision to only eat tomatoes if they were in season, or canned, not only were they coming from far away but they tasted awful. Does anyone else remember the novelty of fresh tomatoes in January when they came three in little plastic crates from Israel? My mom called them styrofoam.


To shift to a different member of the plant family completely I thought I would share the joys of strawberry rhubarb pie. Which is one of those fleeting dishes that only comes around once, maybe twice a year. The recipe that follows the pictures is my own, every recipe that I have tried came out either too sweet or too complicated. As you'll see in the pictures pie crusts are tough for me (I blame the lack of humidity in Colorado since I can make a great one at sea level), so you'll have to fend for yourself on that, although I would suggest a butter based one rather than shortening because the pie is very tart and needs balance.






Ingredients

3 pints of strawberries
2 cups of chopped rhubarb
5 Tbs evaporated cane sugar (if you use white sugar it will increase the sweetness)
1 tiny pinch of salt
1 Recipe for pie crust

0) Preheat oven to 350
1) Chop rhubarb in pinkie width pieces.
2) Hull and quarter strawberries.
3) Mix fruit with sugar and salt and let sit.
4) Make crust.
5) Dump fruit mix into crust in pie pan.
6) Make lattice (Obviously my attempts was lacking).
7) Put in oven for about 45 minutes or until the house is so full of flavor that you can't wait any longer, surprisingly they are about the same.

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