strawberry-rhubarb pie
Last Saturday I finally made it to the neighborhood Greenmarket, its third week of operation. I had good but annoying reasons for missing the first two and I was determined not to miss this one. I knew it was too early for tomatoes, but I was delighted to see there are still plenty of strawberries on hand. I picked up a couple of quarts, and on my way to join the line I saw stalks of 
rhubarb, and I thought, this will be a blog recipe to knock off. One of my books has to have a recipe for strawberry-rhubarb pie, and I bet it’s Today’s Country Cooking.
And I was right, though I missed it at first; the index had no listing under strawberry, but when I searched “rhubarb,” I found rhubarb pie with a variation that included strawberries. Good 
enough for me!
Today’s Country Cooking is the last one I had left to try in the group of cookbook-club-published books I’ve accumulated. Like its fellows, it’s large and glossy and prettily laid out. It offers lots of glowingly American recipes: mashed potatoes, jam, meatloaf, cake, and something called “American Chop Suey Hot Dish.” 
(Macaroni, garlic, ground beef…I think I don’t want to know, actually.)
I started by preparing a pie crust, following a recipe included in the book. I had reservations, because I’m a butter-crust person and the recipe here called for shortening. But one of my goals for this project is to get better at following a new recipe without 
imposing my own ideas about what to do before I’ve even seen how it would work, and I knew that there would be a real difference in texture with shortening. I had to try it for myself. So I took a deep breath, bought a container of Crisco, and set to work. I blended some flour with a bit of salt and some Crisco, then mixed in some ice water. I used the amounts specified, and I 
expected the crust to be a bit shaggy, but it was downright wet. I swiftly blended in some more flour until the texture seemed right, trying my best not to over-handle it and make it tough. I rolled out a bottom crust and laid it into the pie pan, then rolled out a top crust and folded it into a quarter-wedge, and set it aside.
Now it was time to put together 
the filling. I sliced rhubarb into half-inch-thick pieces and arranged them in the pie pan, then sliced up some strawberries and added them to the rhubarb. Then I blended some sugar, brown sugar and flour in one bowl; in another, I combined eggs, egg yolks, half-and-half, and vanilla. I poured the egg mixture into the sugar mixture and whisked it together, then 
poured it over the fruit.
Now it was time to top the pie. Well, I assumed so, anyway; the recipe doesn’t actually say to lay on the top crust, but the illustration shows a lattice-topped pie, so I decided that would serve as an implication that a top crust was intended, and carefully unfolded the top crust that I had set aside. It wanted to stick 
together, but I managed to tease it apart into a single layer with out shredding it too much. I pinched the edges, poked a few holes, and popped the pie into a 350-degree oven for an hour.
Once the pie had cooled, it was ready to slice and serve. The crust was surprisingly good: light, flaky, and with a delicate flavor that complemented the pie filling. 
The filling was very good too, though I found it a little sweeter than I thought it should be; that could probably be taken care of by adding just a bit more of both kinds of fruit without increasing the egg-and-sugar mixture. The strawberries and rhubarb balanced sweetness and tartness.
Verdict: Success. I may have to make another within the next 
couple of weeks, while there are still strawberries in the Greenmarket.