Back to Pies I Don't Like

So this week was the dreaded rhubarb pie. 

And why is it dreaded?  Well let's do a little word problem based on a childhood "incident":

2 slices of strawberry rhubarb pie + copious amounts of chocolate milk + lots of bouncing around = disaster and a lifelong queasiness whenever the word "rhubarb" is mentioned.

(Completely off topic, but one other thing I think of when I hear "rhubarb" is my roommate from years ago in Boston.  Her name was "Rubab" but in Boston everyone thought she was just dropping her "r".  She received a lot of mail/messages for " Rhubarb"  which we found amusing to no end.)

When I started the pie project, I told myself that I would not, could not make rhubarb pie.  But whenever I mentioned the project, inevitably someone would ask if I was making rhubarb.  Apparently it's a well-liked pie and one that is hard to find.

And rhubarb is grown all over my part of Connecticut.  So in the interest of using local fruit, I felt like I had to make one.  But neither I, nor my husband, wanted to eat the pie- and my kids were skeptical of any fruit that so closely identifies with celery, so we needed to expand to a wider audience.

We hosted a Memorial Day BBQ and provided rhubarb pie.  I have to admit I tried a piece of the raw rhubarb and nope, still don't like it.  (And I also had a moment of panic when someone told me that raw rhubarb is poisonous, which for the record it is not, it's the leaves that are poisonous.)

I will admit, while the crust is homemade, my husband was in charge of the crust start to finish (I was busy making salads.) All my taste testers said it was yummy- and it did look good.  Perhaps they'll comment!

Here's the recipe:

Rhubarb Crumble Pie
Adapted from The Kitchn
Recipe for Rhubarb Crumble Pie

1 prepared pie crust
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 3/4 pounds fresh rhubarb, cut into 3/4 pieces (this was about 10 stalks)
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons cornstarch

In a small bowl, whisk the flour, almonds, brown sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.  With your hands, work the butter into the mixture.  Put in fridge.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

In a mixing bowl, combine rhubarb, sugar, cornstarch, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.  Toss to coat the rhubarb.  Transfer the mixture to the pie shell. 

Scatter the refrigerated crumble mixture over the filling.

Place in oven for about an hour (until the top is bubbling and the crust is brown.

I went with the coconut bars to the right...