Strawberry Picking is Nigh, Let's go Make a Pie

    

     Getting back into blogging is like getting back into your clothes from the 1980's. Try as you might, it just gathers wrinkles and dust in the farthest recesses of your closet. It really is quite sad since, I work at the The Putney Food Coop and there is an abundance of fodder for me to write about. So, I decided to dust off my rainbow legwarmers and digital camera and set out on the blogger trail again sharing my misadventures from the Green Mountain state.

     It is quite hilarious if you knew me personally. I, now work in a very health conscientious atmosphere and I had to replace my old loves like flour, butter, beef and sugar with gluten-free, soy butter, tofu and sucanat.. Oh the travesty of it all....Hold on.......

     Did I mention the Cheese, the Glorious Cheese that comes with my job!! The Cave to Co-op program this month rocks  ,with Roger's Robusto a cheese akin to chevre. This cheese is made from the milk of Dutch Belt and Holstein cows, and then rolled in herbs with a touch of zesty hot peppers. My thought is a super Alfredo finished with Roger's Robusto !

      I really live a dual life kinda like James Bond 007, I grew up on the Twinkies side of the tracks, and now I am rubbing elbows with the Soy Boys, who knew???    I would like to describe myself as the "Roseanne Barr" of chefs ( no ill will Roseanne, I quite adore you!!!). What I mean by this is..when I cook you a plate, you don't need a weed whacker to get to it, or someone to translate it for you, while you eat. Just plain old comfort food.

     Unfortunately, I am not here to talk about cheese, although I could go on for months about good cheese. Not the framunda kind, you know the kind that smells like it came directly from your gym shoes, after working out for 12 hours in a fish cannery, on a 90 degree day with no socks, Haha icky!

     What I want to talk about is Strawberries!!!  This time of the year, strawberries are the earliest most coveted fruit, and when combined with rhubarb, it is the season's most prized combination.
  

     Rhubarb is a a very misunderstood conundrum, kinda like jicama it just creates more questions. But in case you were confused or rather inquisitive, rhubarb is a member of the buckwheat family and is not a fruit at all, but rather a vegetable, it's leaves are highly toxic and because of it's considerable tartness it is combined with ample amounts of sugar. In the USA it is commonly combined with strawberries in the UK you can see it paired with ginger. Here I give you Strawberry Rhubarb pie.

If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance.  ~Bern Williams
 

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie                                                                                  
1 pound well washed diced rhubarb
2 pints quartered strawberries
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp orange extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs butter
1 recipe pie dough
1 egg combined with 2 tbs water for wash
2 tbs butter

In a clean bowl combine the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, flour and extracts and mix well. Let stand for 30 minutes so that it gets all happy. Roll 1/2 your pie dough out and line a 9 in deep dish well greased pie shell, add the strawberry rhubarb mixture, dot with the butter and top with the other half of your dough, crimp and cut steam holes in the center of the pie, brush with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar and bake in a 350 degree oven until golden brown.
Pie Dough                                                                                                            2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup cold butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup cold water

In a standing mixer combine the flour, sugar and salt, add the cubed butter with a paddle mix on low until the mixture resembles cornmeal, add the cold water and mix until dough comes together, Wrap and chill before rolling.