Everett’s Own Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

It’s finally strawberry season in the Wallas, after a cold, damp spring. So on this sunny first day of summer, I give you my strawberry-rhubarb pie recipe, mostly made up from my own head (with a nod to my grandmother’s pie crust recipe). Enjoy with a lovely glass of homemade lemonade!

For the crust:

1/3 cup of lard, chilled

2T butter, frozen or chilled

2 cups sifted flour

2 pinches of salt

small cup of ice water

1 egg white, beaten (for final baking)

Using a pastry blender, mix in the salt, lard and butter with the flour until the lipids are pea-sized or a little smaller. Put in one tablespoon of water at a time until the dough comes together. Reserve half, and keep it chilled in the fridge. Roll out one half on a floured surface and lay in the pie shell, bringing up the dough on the sides to the top edge. Put in some pie shell weights, like dry beans, and bake on 375 for 5-7 minutes, then remove the beans and work on the filling.

For the filling:

3 cups of fresh, destemmed, quartered strawberries

2 cups of fresh rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon clove

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 cup of sugar

2T flour

3T butter

Mix all ingredients except the butter together until well covered, and let sit for 5 minutes. Pour into prebaked shell, then dot the top with the butter. Take out the second half of the chilled pie shell dough and roll it out on a floured surface, and cut into strips to make a lattice top for the pie. Press the ends of the lattice onto the edge of the pie plate. Brush on the beaten egg white; sprinkle the lattice with some sugar.

Bake for 35 minutes at 375, and let cool for at least 2 hours before cutting, preferably overnight.