one smitten kitten

I just fell in love with a new cooking blog: Smitten Kitchen.

I made a strawberry rhubarb pie, the first one I've ever made or even tasted, on Saturday and I loved it. My sister-in-law Jen told me years ago how much she loves strawberry rhubarb pie and I've been wanting to try one ever since, so I'm dedicating this pie to her. Jen takes the most beautiful pictures of my girls. I so wish that we lived closer so that 1.) we could hang out more because she's awesome and 2.) I could cook for her and pay her back for all the awesome pictures I have hanging in my home. My Dad called the other day and said, "Hey I need more pictures of your girls. Has your sister-in-law taken any more recently?" I am so not a photographer and he knows it! Check out Jen's flickr page and website. She's in the Kansas City area and she is so talented!

So back to the pie- I got lucky and the strawberries at Walmart of all places were perfectly sweet. It was all I could do not to eat the whole lot of them before getting them into the pie. I got a sweet deal on rhubarb at the farmer's market and you better believe I'll be heading back Saturday morning for more. I followed the Smitten Kitchen's recipe almost exactly, except I used the Barefoot Contessa's pie crust recipe. Why mess with perfection?

I ended up with a really wet filling, too, so I actually took the pie, tilted it slightly over the sink, and poured about 1/4 or more of pie juices down the drain. Not very sophisticated for a "domestic goddess", but I think it was a smart move. :)

For filling
3 1/2 cups 1/2-inch-thick slices trimmed rhubarb (1 1/2 pounds untrimmed)
1 16-ounce container strawberries, hulled, halved (about 3 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg yolk beaten to blend with 1 teaspoon water (for glaze)

Make filling: Preheat oven to 400°F. Combine first 7 ingredients in large bowl. Toss gently to blend.

Assemble Pie: Roll out 1 dough disk on floured work surface to 13-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish [er, I used a metal one and it was just fine]. Trim excess dough, leaving 3/4-inch overhang.

Roll out second dough disk on lightly floured surface to 13-inch round. Cut into fourteen 1/2-inch-wide strips. Spoon filling into crust. Arrange 7 dough strips atop filling, spacing evenly. Form lattice by placing remaining dough strips in opposite direction atop filling. Trim ends of dough strips even with overhang of bottom crust. Fold strip ends and overhang under, pressing to seal. Crimp edges decoratively.

Brush glaze over crust. transfer pie to baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake pie until golden and filling thickens, about another 25 minutes. [The original recipe suggested a total baking time of 1 hour and 55 minutes. No joke. Mine was done in just shy of an hour.] Transfer pie to rack and cool completely. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

I served it with my friend's recipe for vanilla ice cream. Oh it's so good! Here it is:

Sandra Zeigler’s Vanilla ice cream
for 4 qt. ice cream maker.

4 Eggs
2 1/4 c. Sugar
5 c. Milk
4 c. Heavy Cream
4 1/2 tsp. vanilla (I use Mexican Vanilla)
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix together eggs and sugar until stiff. Add other ingredients and mix well together.

Pour into container of ice cream maker, and freeze as instructed.