Rhubarb - your reputation preceds you!!
Those of you who live in Chicago are probably wondering where Spring has been hiding lately. It has been unseasonably cool around here. But no matter how much the weather report will have us believe otherwise, Spring really is here.
Evidence:
1) I’ve bought my Chicago City Sticker. Ever since I was 17, this has been a rite of passage of spring.
2) I’ve had my annual bout of spring allergies
3) Grocery stores are so full of rhubarb, they’re practically giving it away!
There is something special about rhubarb. Something that evokes nostalgic memories in people. Seriously. When people saw me with a few stalks of rhubarb, this was the response I got:
- The elderly man bagging my groceries asked if I was making pie. When I said yes, his face broke into a smile, and the checkout line was held up as he stopped to tell me about the last time his wife made him rhubarb pie.
- My dad went on and on about how my grandparents used to grow rhubarb in their backyard, and how he hasn’t had rhubarb pie in decades.
At this point, I began to get suspicious. Whenever anything is hyped up in this manner, my typical response is, “Yeah okay. I’ll be the judge of that.” But rhubarb put me in my place. I was thoroughly impressed, and I have to admit that rhubarb lived up to it’s great reputation .
To the casual observer, it would seem that rhubarb suffers from an identity crisis. It’s clearly a vegetable - but the culinary world treats it like a fruit. It has fibrous and woody stalks - like celery. But the surface of the flesh bleeds dark pink - like beets. And the taste of raw rhubarb… the only thing I can compare it to is lemon, or Sour Patch Kids.
But after thinly slicing rhubarb and baking it in a simpe pie crust, rhubarb does a total 180. It goes from being fibrous and bitter to sweet and yielding.
This may be the easiest pie I’ve ever made. Give it a try, before rhubarb goes out of season!
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 lbs of rhubarb, cleaned and sliced thin
- 2 cups of sliced strawberries
- 1 cup of sugar
- A top and bottom pie crust of your choice.
Directions:
- Mix the sliced rhubarb and strawberries in a large bowl
- Stir in the sugar until it covers the fruit evenly
- Pour it into your pie shell, and apply the top crust
- Bake at 375 for 40 minutes
- Share with family and friends, and try not to laugh when people ask if you slaved over this pie for hours
