Rhubarb Raspberry Pie #19

The grocery storey:

It was late Saturday night.

And by late I mean 8:30, the time normal people go out, but after a day of biking around the city, I was a little tired so it felt like at least 11:00.

But any way, I went to the grocery store to pick up items for the All Red party we were going to on Sunday night (I had volunteered to bring a "red" pie), among other important sundries.

Here's the grocery store situation for us:We are right in the middle of 3 mediocre "grocery stores".

All of them has something that I buy on a regular basis. None of them has everything. Produce, in general, is pretty sad at all three, though sometimes they have what you need, on sale, and in lovely condition. I guess that's what keeps me going back and the fact that any other "real" grocery store necessitates a 20 minute walk or a subway ride, which isn't bad, in fact I often do it, but when I feel a little tired I like to risk the prices and the perkiness of these sub pare produce sections.

Indeed, I live life on the edge.

Also, was a little unfocused because:

a-I didn't have a list and didn't feel fully prepared with what I was cooking.

b-we also had a ward activity that we were cooking for and I knew we needed to simplify in an inexpensive way, but I hadn't really thought that through either.

c-when we unlocked our door that night (post biking, pre-grocery store), our whole lock came out of our door with our key. Reminder: we live in Harlem...

So...all I'm saying is, I had a lot of unorganized thoughts on my mind and when best yet? didn't have all the rhubarb I needed, I decided just to wing it.

On one hand, I'm telling all of this to apologize to you, to those who ate it, and mostly to myself for not really testing out this recipe.

On the other hand it was pretty darn good, especially for just buying random ingredients at the store and hoping it would work. I just thought you might want to applaud me.

So there, it was one rhubarb raspberry pie (or really more like raspberry rhubarb pie) and it was delicious that night and even better the next day. It tasted like a big slice of raspberry jam (which happens to be my favorite type of jam) so I was pleased.

Also, the crust was surprisingly delicious. It was my first all-shortening crust and I while I was VERY skeptical of using just shortening, it was fast, flaky, easy to work with, resilient, pretty, and more tasty than I thought it would be.

Ann said that she thinks it's one of the best I've made and while Ryan loves rhubarb more than raspberries (and would prefer an all-rhubarb pie) he liked it a lot too. So pie-lovers, here you go. A delicious Rhubarb Raspberry pie recipe (with my adjustments in parenthesis).

Basic Shortening pie Pastry

(Adapted from Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie)

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into pieces

6 to 8 tablespoons cold water

Dinah's Raspberry-Rhubarb Pie

(adapted from Bubby's Homemade pies)

1 1/2 cups sugar, plus extra for sprinkling on the top crust

3 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca flakes

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

1 cup frozen raspberries (2 cups raspberries, 1/4 c strawberries)

3 cups (1 1/2 pounds) rhubarb, cut into 1/2-to 1/3-inch pieces (1 lb of rhubarb, or 2 cups)

1/2 teaspoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

DIRECTIONS:

Crust--Cut shortening into cubes and freeze. Combine flour, salt, and sugar and stir to distribute. Cut cold shortening into flour mixture until they look like small peas. Pour in most of the water and use hands to combine dough (use the rest of the water if it's still not moist).

Form two flat, round discs and refrigerate for an hour.

Filling--In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, tapioca, flour, salt, and butter. Add the raspberries and toss them well. Let the mixture stand for 1 minutes to macerate the fruit and soften the tapioca. Stir in the rhubarb and let the mixture stand another 5 minutes while you roll out the dough.Roll out the pastry for a 9-inch pie tin with the bottom crust. Roll out the remaining dough for the top crust. Rechill the pastry if necessary.

Preheat the oven to 450 F

Add the lemon juice and extract to the fruit filling and stir. Pour the fruit into the bottom crust and cover it with a lattice or top crust. Trim and crimp the crust; chill the pie for 10 minutes in the freezer. Brush the crust with milk and sprinkle lightly with sugar.

Bake the pie on a lipped baking sheet for 7 to 10 minutes, or until the crust looks dry, blistered, and blond. Turn the oven down to 375F and bake at least 30 minutes more (I did about 40), or until the crust is golden brown and visible juices are thickened and bubble slowly through the lattice or the slits in the top crust.

Cool the pie completely before cutting, at least a few hours. Serve it at room temperature. Store the pie uncovered at room temperature in a pie safe or cover the pie with a layer of cheesecloth (so that the pastry can breathe) up to 3 days.

Postscript: I just want to say that I've kind of been feeling bad about the bum rap that I gave to the best yet? market. It doesn't always have awful produce, it's just that it has the weirdest layout of any grocery store, which makes shopping there somewhat unpleasant. 


Sorry best yet? I wasn't being fair. You're a fine grocery store, you just stock things in weird places, but I'm still happy to have you in the neighborhood.