Rhubarb Pie - Week 19

Rhubarb Pie... the sign that summer is close.

 Rhubarb is a prized crop in Kansas as families have passed the root from family garden to family garden. And because of our wild temperatures, the crop is not always a guarantee. It has to be cool enough to keep it from burning up, but warm enough to keep it from freezing. 

There are usually favorite family recipes that are cherished by families. However, that doesn't mean there is success in recreating the rhubarb treat. My husband's Grandma was well-known for her rhubarb rolls (like a cinnamon roll). I remember using her recipe and spending hours kneading the dough, cutting the rhubarb, raising the dough, baking, and glazing only to hear "It's just not like Grandma's". 

Many times, the combination of strawberries and rhubarb are a popular blend in a pie. However, I chose to fix the rhubarb straight up. Many recipes also call for red food coloring to change the color of the rhubarb that is commonly grown in Kansas gardens because you use the whole stalk, not just the red part. The leaves are known to be poisonous.

I was fortunate to be able to fix my pie this week with my son that was visiting on his summer break. I knew that this would be a pie that he would appreciate with the tart filling.

Michael and I getting ready to make rhubarb goodness!

Ingredients:

1 Double Crust Pastry

4 cups chopped rhubarb

1 cup sugar + 1 T.

6 T. flour

Direction:

Place rhubarb in bottom pastry. Sprinkle sugar and flour over rhubarb.

Cover with top crust and place vent holes and sprinkle 1 T. sugar over top. 

Bake 15 minutes at 450 degrees.

Reduce oven to 350 degrees and bake for 40-45 minutes.

But can he survive making pie with his mom?

Our pie before it went into the oven...
Unfortunately we had a crust crisis,
but we just pieced it together as nice as we could.
It happens!

But it still tasted great!

I know how difficult it might be to find the fresh rhubarb, 

so I scoped out the frozen rhubarb from Dillons:

During piesearch, I had found a recipe for Rhubarb Pie Martini that required "rhubarb syrup". So I made up a batch of the sticky syrup.

The drink was okay, I think I'll use the rest of my syrup for ice cream instead...

What is your favorite rhubarb memory?

I will have to say my favorite rhubarb memory will have to be 

helping my son make his first pie (hopefully not his last).