Book Review

This isn’t typical for a food blog, but I would like to take the time to review a book here. It is a cookbook of sorts, but it is also one of the most touching memoirs I have ever read. If you’re not involved in the food blog world you may not have heard of it, the book I am referring to is A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg, creator of the beautiful Orangette.

I really don’t have any critiques for this book, it really did have me at ‘hello’. Molly ends her introduction by saying “In the simple acts of cooking and eating, we are creating and continuing the stories that are our lives.” This sentence nearly brought me to tears because it sums up, as closely as I have ever been able to, my feelings about why I love cooking and food.

More than just beautiful writing, this book is chock-full of amazing sounding recipes, many of which I hope to cook and (if I can get my act together enough) post here on this blog. If you haven’t read this book and you have time to please consider it. If you know me in real life I will be more than willing to lend it to you!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Depending on where you live the weather may just be starting to get consistently nice (as it is here in Portland) or it could be in the full throes of summer (as one of my Arizona-native roommates bemoans). We made this pie over Spring Break, which was a while ago now, even thought the weather wasn’t particularly springy at the time.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie is always delicious, sweet from the strawberries and tart from the rhubarb with a lovely intermingling of cinnamon. This is a perfect recipe that is just sweet enough but one that doesn’t overwhelm the wonderful tart qualities of the rhubarb!

Bonus: What is wrong with this picture?

Answer: I am horrible at weaving lattice, notice the mistake in the upper left-hand corner. I could pretend that this was the only lattice mistake in the pie, but that would be untrue.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Pie recipe from here via Kit Leitschuh, crust recipe from Jan Layne.

Crust
In a large bowm mix together with a pastry blender until crumbly:
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups Crisco

In a cup mix together:
5 TBS cold water
1 TBS apple cider vinegar
1 egg, slightly beaten

Add the mixture in the cup to the mixture in the bowl. Mix with a large spoon, DO NOT OVER MIX!

Shape into 3-4 balls. Roll out each pie crust you intend on using right away and freeze the rest.

Pie
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

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

Roll out 1 dough disk on floured work surface to 13-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter flass pie dish. 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 1 hour 25 minutes. Transfer pie to rack and cool completely.