As the banner strawberry season continued, I started looking for ways in which we had not yet eaten our bounty.  Edie suggested strawberry rhubarb pie.  I still had a tub of the creamy frozen delight that was otherwise known as strawberry ice cream fail that would pair wonderfully with a pie.  However, as I found myself in the kitchen the other afternoon, I realized I just wasn’t in the mood to make a pie crust.  I know I claim they are easy peasy, but I had spent the better part of the last two days working in both gardens, finally getting them both in for the summer growing season,  I had picked up the house and had a batch of bread rising.  Pie just seemed to be slightly overly ambitious for one afternoon.

That’s when I came upon the great idea of adapting a pie recipe from an old Bon Appetit that I knew was easy AND tasty.  Sure it was originally for apple pie, but i could take the cinnamon out and still use it, right?

The recipe in question is “Eva Marie Saint’s Apple Pie”.  It was in the RSVP section of the December, 2005 issue.  I have not been able to find it online, which is unfortunate, because it is one of those easy, tasty recipes one should have around.

The crust for this particular pie requires no rolling – it resembles shortbread, consisting of just flour, butter and sugar.  It mixes together with a fork, then you spread it out in your pie dish with your fingers, reserving some of the mix to become crumbles (mixed with cinnamon for the apple version) on top.  For the filling, I followed the recipe in my circa 1986 Betty Crocker cookbook – surprisingly enough, the only cookbook on my shelves with a strawberry rhubarb pie recipe.

I have no shots of the finished pie – it was a gloriously tasting buttery, sugary mess that was nothing pretty to look at but absolutely wonderful to eat with a big spoonful of ice cream fail my attempt at making strawberry ice cream without an ice cream maker. If you have a hankering for some pie but don’t feel up to all the work of a crust, then this is your recipe.  I’m pretty sure we will be adapting this to fruits all summer long.

One last note – the recipe called for room temperature butter, which I did not have.  So I grated the butter using a cheese grater and worked it in that way.  Totally the way to go.

Strawberry-Rhubarb “Pie”

Crust:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, grated

1 cup sugar

Filling:

2 cups diced rhubarb

2 cups sliced strawberries

1 1/3 cups sugar

1/3 cup flour

Crust: Place flour and butter in a large bowl.  Using back of fork, mash together until moist clumps form.  Add sugar and continue working with fork to incorporate (mixture will still be lumpy). Transfer 1 1/2 cups dough to greased pie dish.  Press evenly over bottom and up the sides of the dish.

Filling: Combine rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and 1/3 cup flour in a bowl.

Pour filling on top of prepared crust.  Sprinkle remaining dough bits over filling.

Bake pie at 350 until browned and bubbly, about an hour. Let cool on rack about 30 minutes before serving.