“Dutch” Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

When I started out to make strawberry rhubarb pie today with the first harvested rhubarb of the season I was not sure what the end result would look like. I have made many different kinds of pie over the years, and I have made strawberry rhubarb pie many times. I usually use the same recipe for the crust; flour, salt, shortening and water (from the Betty Crocker Cookbook), but since I was out of shortening I decided to try butter and vegetable oil instead.

I started by mixing the crust, but then decided as I was forming the dough that I would turn the top dough into a “Dutch” topping like on a Dutch Apple pie. There was a glass baking dish on the counter that had been washed but not put away so I also decided to skip rolling out the bottom crust for the traditional round pie and instead patted the dough into the bottom of the rectangular dish. I made the rhubarb and strawberry filling and then took the remaining dough, crumbled it and added brown sugar to make the sweet crumbly topping for the pie.

It turned out wonderfully!

Here is the recipe:

Dough (for both top and bottom)

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup cold butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp. salt
• About 6 Tbsp. ice cold water (I put ice in the water and strain it into the mix)
• 1 cup brown sugar

Combine flour, salt. butter and oil with a pastry blender, two forks, or even your fingers until small pea-sized balls form. Add water and mix with hands until dough forms. Take half the dough and press into the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate or 7×11 baking dish. (You can roll out the dough too if you choose, using a little more flour when rolling out). Fill with pie filling (recipe below).

Add brown sugar to remaining dough and use hands to combine and crumble. Spread evenly over pie filling.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 40-45 minutes. Let cool so filling firms up before cutting (this takes willpower but is worth it!)

Filling:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 4 cups rhubarb
• 16 oz sliced strawberries

Combine sugar, cornstarch, water and vanilla in saucepan. Bring to boil and stir until sauce thickens. Pour over strawberries and rhubarb and mix to coat. Spread filling into pie shell.