Oh hot damn, this is my jam. It’s got me partying til the A.M. Y’all don’t understand! It’ll make you throw your hands in the ayer, ay-ay-ay-ayer.
You know what’s awesome? What’s awesome is when you walk into the grocery store and are literally barraged by the scent of fresh, local, intoxicating produce. Like, for example, these beautiful Quebec strawberries: they were begging me to take them home. And although they weren’t big fat GMOs with all that swagger, they were cute, humble, far-more-flavourful nuggets of juice that took my breath away. I lopped off the tops and have been using them to trap my fruit flies ever since. Amen.
Initially, I forced myself to walk past the Divine Strawberries, since I didn’t think I had a use for them had a minor brain lapse. But, coming across large, ruby-red stalks of organic British Columbia rhubarb had me racing back through the store, knocking sweet old ladies willy nilly in an attempt to secure the very best basket of strawberries possible. I was successful.
So. Then I made a pie, for my lactose-intollerant boyfriend and his sister, who was coming to visit. The perfect, convenient, frozen pie crusts in my fridge would have done the trick nicely, but for three words: “modified milk ingredients”. Gosh darn it. Back to the drawing board. Pull out the labelless wine bottle (alternatively, drain a half-full wine bottle and scrub vigorously until the label is gone), because we’re going to be rolling out. Pie crust. Get it?
So, I turned instead to this incredible recipe from Vegan Baking for a Flaky Vegan Pie Crust. I then followed Martha Stewart’s recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. Or, as she likes to say, Rhubarb-Strawberry Lattice Pie. Oh, Martha. You’re too fancy for everyone else in the world. Live long and prosper.
Can I say this? It’s easy. Don’t let the words “vegan”, or “pie crust” or “lattice” deter you. It’s really very easy. Your tummy, friends, family and fruit flies will thank you. Make this pie!
Flaky Vegan Pie Crust (makes 2 crusts)
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup cold margarine, cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into cubes
- 6-8 tbsp cold water
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and salt until well-blended. Add the margarine and shortening, and cut in with a fork, your hands, or one of those fancy pastry blenders if you have it, until the mixture is grainy and incorporated.
Add in your cold water, and mix together with your hands until it sticks together well and no lumps remain. Then divide it in two, wrap in saran wrap, and refrigerate for about an hour.
Rhubarb-Strawberry Pie
Adapted from Martha Stewart
- 3-4 cups strawberries, cut into small chunks
- 3-4 cups rhubarb, cut into small pieces (Martha calls for 6 cups of rhubarb and 1 cup strawberries, but that’s not the amounts I had! So use what you have, and if you add more strawberries than rhubarb, leave out some of the juices so your pie doesn’t completely overflow with juices)
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 tbsp orange or lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp salt
Combine all the ingredients!
Assembly
- Pre-heat the oven to 375 F
- Roll out one of the two crusts until it’s large enough to fit your pie plate.
- Fold carefully, place in the plate and arrange properly
- Spoon the fruit mixture and some of the juices into the pie crust – don’t worry if it piles up a bit! It’ll cook down.
- Roll out the other crust, slice into lattice strips, and create a lattice pattern over the fruit
- Cook for 1.5 hours, check periodically to ensure the top crust isn’t burning
- Let cool
- EAT!!
Are you as obsessed with pie as I am? What’s your favourite? Will you be baking a fresh fruit pie this summer? If so, which kind? Want to share? :)
