Rhubarb Pie, Two Ways

Its rhubarb season and I’ve made five pies this week.  My younger son has developed a taste for it and my five year old loves it.  Since the rhubarb eaters now outnumber the rhubarb haters (my husband won’t eat “weed pie”), I make it for all the potlucks and picnics we attend.  My own rhubarb patch is finally coming into its own after being moved a couple of times.

Not all rhubarb is the same.  I have two old varieties in my patch.  One came with my house, a mostly green variety that gets large leaves and thick stems.  The second is a rescue from Homegirl Megan’s yard.  She was selling the house soon and it was so amazing we couldn’t part with it.  The stems are slender and almost completely red to the center.  The mix of red and green make for a beautiful pie.  When I ran through all my rhubarb, I had to raid Homegirl Di’s patch.  Hers is a new variety and established very quickly.  It’s a beautiful red that fades into a nice green near the leaf, long stemmed, and very juicy.

My mother’s patch (and all others in our hometown) was more similar to my green variety and prone to being “woody”.  I had to adjust my recipe for rhubarb pie to different varieties of the plant.  It wasn’t difficult, a 2:1 rhubarb:sugar ratio seems to work.  I just had to adjust the amount of rhubarb I needed to fill the pie dish.  The thick green stalks hold up better in cooking and require less rhubarb, but I like the pink color that red rhubarb gives my pies so I’ll pick more red rhubarb for a pink pie.

Rhubarb Pie

• 6 c. diced rhubarb 
• 3 c. sugar 
• 6 T. flour
• 1 T. butter 
• double pie crust

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Adjust the oven rack to the middle position.  
2. Mix diced rhubarb, sugar, and flour and allow the mixture to rest at least 30 minutes while preparing the crust.
3. Fill the bottom crust with the rhubarb mixture.
4. Dot the rhubarb mixture with slices of butter (about 1 T. butter)
5. Cover with the second crust and roll the edges of the top and bottom crust together.  Pierce the top crust to allow steam to escape.
6. Loosely cover the pie with foil.
7. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake and additional 30 minutes.

A pie is finished baking when its juices are bubbling over the side of the dish.  This can be really messy.  Place a cookie sheet on the rack under the pie to keep the sugary juice from burning to the bottom of the oven.

My husband will eat this rhubarb pie variation to humor me.  It is a huge picnic hit.

Rhubarb Custard Pie

• 4 c. diced rhubarb
• 2 c. sugar
• 1/3 c. flour
• 3 eggs
• 3 T. milk
• ½ t. nutmeg
• 1 t. vanilla
• double pie crust

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Adjust the oven rack to the middle position.  
2. Mix the diced rhubarb, sugar, and flour.
3. Beat eggs, milk, nutmeg, and vanilla.  Combine the egg and rhubarb mixtures.
4. Prepare pie crust.
5. Fill the bottom crust with the rhubarb mixture.
6. Dot the rhubarb mixture with slices of butter (about 1 T. butter)
7. Cover with the second crust and roll the edges of the top and bottom crust together.  Pierce the top crust to allow steam to escape.
8. Loosely cover the pie with foil.
9. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake and additional 30 minutes.

A pie is finished baking when its juices are bubbling over the side of the dish.