Rhubarb is one of those strange vegetables that acts more like a fruit - the bright pink rhubarb stems that is; the leaves are poisonous. Strawberry rhubarb pie is one of my favorite pies in the world; in fact everyone here loves it. I made this pie for a party and had to make another the next day for my parents, who had heard me talk about it and couldn't believe I hadn't brought them a piece. We ended up making 3 pies this last week, one using a James Beard recipe, another a Best Recipe recipe, and the third what we thought ended up being the best combination. It's a little bit tricky because depending on how sweet your strawberries are, you'll need more or less sugar. We found the ratio of 3 to 1, rhubarb to strawberries, yielded the most flavorful results.
3 cups rhubarb stalks cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup strawberries, stemmed and sliced
1 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons of quick cooking tapioca
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of grated orange peel
Unbaked pastry for two-crust 9 inch pie
(If making a 10 inch pie, or just want more filling, use 4.5 cups of rhubarb, 1.5 cups strawberries, and 1 1/4 cup of sugar)
1 Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix the rhubarb and the strawberries with the sugar, tapioca, salt, and orange rind. Let sit for 10 minutes.
2 Turn into a pastry lined pan. Top with the pastry, trim the edge, and crimp the top and bottom edges together. Cut slits in the top for the steam to escape.
3 Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes, reduce heat to 350°F, and bake an additional 30-40 minutes longer (40 to 50 minutes longer if doing a 10-inch pie). Cool on a rack.
Serve warm or cold. If you do cool to room temperature, the juices will have more time to thicken.
