Rhubarb Season
There are many things I miss about living in Minnesota.
Our friends.
Plentiful public parks.
A general commitment to the public good.
Urban breweries.
Snow.
Cheese curds, preferably fried.
Rhubarb.
Definitely rhubarb.
In Minnesota, once warm weather finally arrives, rhubarb grows like a weed in people’s yards and alley gardens. Neighbors practically beg each other to take some before the rhubarb grows over everything. It’s available at grocery stores, at farmer’s markets, in CSA boxes. If you want rhubarb, rhubarb you shall have!
I sold a Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Pie when I ran a home-based bakery in Minnesota and did I ever love it. The contrast of the tangy-and-tart rhubarb with sweet strawberries, the cardamom-laced buttery crumb topping, the gorgeously red sticky pie juices dripping from the crust. Winter is long and hard up North, and this pie felt like an embodiment of joy at spring’s return. Wake up!, it tells your palate. Wake up! Sunny days are here again!
Here in New Jersey, rhubarb is a much more scarce, but somehow less treasured, commodity. It can be found for a high price at a few grocery stores for just a short time and usually in pretty sad, wilted shape. When I mention making a strawberry rhubarb pie, people look a bit confused. Rhubarb? Someone actually once said to me, “Who would want to eat that?”
When I walked in to the grocery store this week to find both an incredible sale on strawberries and a lovely selection of fresh rhubarb, it felt like the Holy Spirit was talking to me: “Holley. Make the pie.”
I did. It was every bit as delicious, tangy, and sweet as I remembered it being.
I also realized the pie means something different to me than it used to.
Before, it was a joyful harbinger of summer. A marker that the season of darkness and isolation was over, that the season of fireflies and patios and neighborly chats over the fence was near. Its sweet-tartness was both a shock to a winter-dulled palate and a promise of good things to come.
Now, it’s a joyful remembrance of things that were. A reminder that the season of raising tiny kids in snowsuits is over for me. Its sweet-tartness speaks to me of the sadness of being far from friends I love and the deep happiness I’ll feel when we’re together again.
I initially saw this recipe as a double-crusted version on Serious Eats. Although I love a good pie crust, I love a crumb topping even more. So out went the top crust and in came a crumb topping. I find that this pie filling is quite wet, though, which can sometimes lead to the crumb topping sinking into it and disappearing. To avoid this, make your crumb top clumps on the larger side rather than smaller, and pile them up rather than try to cover the entire surface of the fruit. This will help keep the topping aloft and firmer, as well as help some of the pie juices thicken. Be aware that this recipe makes a gloriously deep and hefty pie; I use my deep dish ceramic pie pan for it. See the note following the recipe to scale it down for a standard-sized pie pan.
Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Pie
Adapted from: Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Ingredients:
1 prepared deep-dish pie crust (this is my absolute favorite recipe)
Filling:
24 ounces strawberries, hulled and quartered (halved if quite small; about 4 cups total)
18 ounces rhubarb stalks, sliced into 1/2" pieces (halved lengthwise if thick stalks; about 4 - 1/2 cups total)
1 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
6 tablespoons cornstarch
Crumb topping:
1 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 - 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 - 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cubed
Directions:
For pie crust: On a well-floured surface, roll out pie crust to about a 12” diameter. Gently remove from rolling surface and drape into a deep dish pie pan. Using your fingers, gently press the crust into the corners and up the sides of the pan. Trim edges so that about 1” of dough hangs over the edge of the pan; you may not have any excess to trim. Fold hanging dough under edge of dough in pan. Using your fingers or a spoon, crimp the edges of the dough around the circumference of the pan. Place prepared pan into the freezer while you prepare remaining ingredients.
For filling: Place strawberries and rhubarb in a large bowl. Add 6 tablespoons of sugar and stir to coat the fruit. Set aside for 20 minutes to allow the fruit to break down some and release liquid. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining sugar for the filling and the cornstarch; set aside.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees and adjust oven rack to lower middle position. Cover a large rimmed baking sheet with foil and set aside.
For topping: Place the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk together. Add the butter. Using a pastry cutter or two forks, mix the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles small pebbles. Using your hands, squeeze the mixture together until it's the texture of wet sand that holds its shape. Break into large-ish clumps, then refrigerate until ready to use. Alternatively, pulse the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until combined; add the butter and pulse until clumps form when the mixture is squeezed.
Back to the filling: After 20 minutes of macerating, the fruit will have released some liquid. Pour the fruit into a colander and toss gently to help it drain. Wipe out the bowl as well to get rid of excess liquid. Pour the fruit back into the bowl and add the sugar/cornstarch mix. Stir until all the starch has dissolved and no dry spots remain.
Assemble the pie: Remove prepared pie pan from the freezer and place on foil-covered baking sheet. Pour fruit into crust. Distribute refrigerated crumb topping evenly over the surface of the fruit; it's OK if the fruit isn't all covered. Aim for big, tall clumps. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until edges of crust are nicely browned. Gently drape foil over the edges of the crust to shield them and return to oven. Bake pie for 20 - 25 more minutes, or until crumb topping is browned, pie is bubbling, and juices are thickened and sticky. If not yet bubbling and thickened but crumb topping is browned, loosely cover with foil and bake for 5 - 10 more minutes or until juices are sticky. Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 4 hours before slicing. Yield: 8 very generous slices, 10 more reasonable ones.
To scale down: Roll out crust as directed, knowing you will most likely have excess scraps (I like to sprinkle these with cinnamon sugar and bake until golden to make pie cookies). Reduce ingredients as follows. Bake assembled pie for around 60 minutes total, checking for browning at 30 minutes and covering crust and top as needed.
Filling: 1 pound strawberries, 12 ounces rhubarb stalks, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup cornstarch. Use 1/4 cup sugar for macerating the berries and rhubarb, and mix the remaining 1/2 cup sugar with the cornstarch.
Crumb topping: 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cardamom, pinch salt, 1 stick unsalted butter.