Finn and Kyle were planning to make their favourite spicy, local potato fries this weekend, but Finn decided to visit his Nana for a few days. So… time to call Farmer Noah in from the field to get his hands a little clean in the kitchen.
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
“It only seems natural,” says Noah loaded up with ripe rhubarb and strawberries from Satnam at Gobind Farms (6929 Veyaness Road off Keating X Road). “Strawberries + Rhubarb = Yummy Pie!”
Caprina, Noah and I visited Gobind Farms last Friday and enjoyed a tour around their extensive farm, feasting on plump, sun-ripened “Rainier” strawberries. Gobind Farms doesn’t offer u-pick but has a convenient roadside stand where you can pick up berries by the punnet, 1/2 lb, 1lb, 1/2 flat and full flat. The season is fast and furious so don’t miss out.
the filling
Make it:
1. Gather fresh local strawberries and rhubarb. Prepare by removing stems from berries and cutting rhubarb into 1/2″ slices. You want to end up with 3.5 cups of each.
2. Toss together with mixed sugars (1/2 cup brown + 1/4 cup white), 1/4 tsp of salt, 1/4 cup cornstarch and a pinch of fresh roasted (and ground) cumin seed. You could easily substitute the cumin with 1 tbsp of fresh squeezed lemon juice. We just wanted to try something a little different.
3. Use your favourite buttery crust recipe. We chose the one from Smitten Kitchen as the pictures looked so yummy…how could we possibly go wrong. I think we’ll go for the “all-butter” crust next time around or perhaps we’ll dare to try our hand with some real lard. Heidi Fink writes a great article about the merits of real lard here…
4. After chilling dough according to directions, roll out to approx. 13″ in diameter. Check out the farmer using his handy dandy tape measure, which just happened to be in his pocket!
5. Place rolled crust in pie pan. (Interjection: I think I might have pre-cooked the bottom at this point, but the farmer had work to do and wanted to get back to the fields. He was sure this would work out just fine. It was a wee bit soggy in places but all in all OK)
6. Scoop filling into crust and get creative with the top. We went for some wavey stripes about .75″ in width.
rolling, rolling
Cook it:
1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. When heated place pie in center of the oven.
3. Cook for 20 minutes at this heat.
4. Turn down oven to 350 F and cook for another 25 minutes or until filling is bubbly and top is golden brown.
Eat it:
1. Let the pie settle for an hour or so.
2. Scoop a big slice onto a plate and top with French Vanilla ice cream, yogurt or fresh whipped cream.
3. Enjoy!
