Strawberry Rhubarab Pie

The night I made strawberry basil martinis, I followed them up with a pie using a recipe I found on Epicurious. It turned out pretty good! Pie crust and I generally don't see eye to eye and I get a bit flustered (read: VERY flustered) while rolling it out, but I figured out a technique that I'm hoping will solve all my pie crust problems. Although this recipe called for a lattice crust, I went with the traditional "full top" crust (not a culinary term... I think i made it up) though I'd like to try the lattice soon.










Ingredients:

Crust

3 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
10 tablespoons (about) ice water

1 large egg yolk beaten to blend with 1 teaspoon water (for glaze)

Filling
3 1/2 cups 1/2-inch-thick slices trimmed rhubarb (1 1/2 pounds untrimmed)
1 16-ounce container strawberries, hulled, halved (about 3 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

First, make the crust. Combine flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Cut in shortening and butter until the mixture appears lumpy (the pulse option works best). Blend in enough ice water 2 tablespoons at a time to form moist clumps, but don't make it too wet!

Gather the dough into ball; cut in half. Flatten each half into disk and wrap separately in plastic; refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

While that chills, make the filling. Combine first 7 ingredients in large bowl. Toss gently to blend.

Yum... I have a hard time not just eating the bowl of pie filling when I get to this part.

Once chilled, roll out 1 dough disk on waxed paper, 13-inch round. I tried using a floured surface and a floured rolling pin, but even after I finally got it rolled out, it was sticking like crazy and falling apart. Rolling it out on wax paper allows you to life it up and gently flip it into the pan/onto the pie. It worked perfectly for me! (Though I didn't get a pic after I figured this out. The image I have was taken right before I realized the dough was a complete mess.)

Transfer the first (rolled out) disc to a 9-inch-diameter pie pan. Trim excess dough, leaving 3/4-inch overhang.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Roll out second dough disk to 13-inch round. Spoon filling into crust and top with second disc.

Crimp edges decoratively.

Transfer pie to baking sheet. (I didn't read the part about the baking sheet and only used tinfoil under the pie... and what a juicy mess! The house got smoky after awhile, but luckily it didn't affect the flavor of the pie. I still need to clean my oven. Damn!) Bake the pie for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake pie until golden and filling thickens, about 1 hour 25 minutes. Transfer pie to rack and cool completely.

Enjoy the deliciousness!