Bonus Pie - Rhubarb Custard Pie

BONUS PIE

Rhubarb Custard Pie

My first bonus contribution is a Rhubarb Custard Pie with an Oat Crumble Crust taken from The Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book by Emily Elsen and Melissa Elsen (Published by Grand Central Life & Style).  

Rhubarb Custard Pie

Growing up, my mother often made rhubarb pie. Her rhubarb pies were beautiful with an artful lattice top and pretty pink center, but I never tried them. Rhubarb looks like red celery and I just couldn't imagine eating a celery pie. LOL. But, since it's spring, it's time to throw out my rhubarb fear and plow forward.

I've also been a traditionalist throughout my pie baking vocation, almost always using only a hand crafted crust made with vegetable shortening (Crisco), flour and water. Tried and true, my safe crust recipe turns out flaky and lovely every time. And, I love the process: cutting in the shortening, mixing but not over working, rolling out the dough with my old wooden rolling pin. But, again, since we are on a great pie adventure, I must expand my crust horizons.

Pie Ingredients

I made my list of needed ingredients and headed to Heinen's, my local grocery store. For some odd reason, I was expecting to find rhubarb with the leaves attached. I don't know why. Logic should have told me that the leaves would not be included since they are poisonous. Why would I want to pay by the pound for poisonous leaves? And why would a store take the risk of selling poisonous leaves? So, there I am in the produce section with the look of a gawking tourist on my face trying to find rhubarb in the leafy greens section. I finally asked a produce guy who directed me to the berry section. There sat the rhubarb, all trimmed and washed and packaged right next to the strawberries. That reminded me of those goopy looking strawberry rhubarb pies in some restaurants. None of that for me! I selected my rhubarb and moved on to the spice aisle. I needed ground mace and ground cardamom. I confess, I've never used cardamom. When I saw the price of it, I realized why. I paid $9.99 for a bottle of it. I only needed 1/8 teaspoon for the recipe. Hmmm. Maybe there is a business plan looming here. Smaller amounts of spices for occasional users? But, I digress. I made my way to the express checkout line, plopping down all my items on the runner. A woman behind me saw all my selections and asked if I was making rhubarb pie. I said yes and that I'd never made one. She continued to say it is her husband's favorite pie but she never makes them either. She just buys them at Heinen's because they make really good rhubarb pies. Good idea, but not nearly as much fun as making your own!

Oat Crumble

The Rhubarb Custard Pie recipe calls for an Oat Crumble Crust in a foil pan. I don't like using foil pans if I can help it. I much prefer Pyrex, so that's what I used. Putting together this crust was fairly simple, mix all the dry ingredients and then, using your fingers, mix in the butter. I didn't have much success with this. I ended up using my dough cutter to mix in the butter, then reverted to my hands to complete the tasks, including pressing the crust into the pie plate. Bake for about 15 or 18 minutes and cool completely. I put my crust in the refrigerator to speed up the cooling time.

The pie center is two separate “layers”. First, a rhubarb sauce that is easy to make. The recipe calls for 1-1/4 cups of sugar in the ingredient list. Had I read the directions correctly, I would have seen the sugar is split between the rhubarb sauce and the custard that is made later. But no, not me. I put all the sugar in with the rhubarb. Luckily, I caught my error before adding any other ingredients and was able to pour the mixture through a sieve removing the excess sugar. The rhubarb cooks down into a very thick sauce. I spent some time crushing each piece of rhubarb which would have been easier to complete with a potato masher. I'm not sure the authors wanted the smooth effect this achieves, but it looks pretty.

Nervous Pie

The custard was also easy to prepare. The recipe calls for heavy cream which I neglected to add to my shopping list so I used milk instead. The recipe also calls for vanilla paste. I didn't even look for this. Colleen (soon to join us in the great pie adventure) gave me a bottle of vanilla made with Tito's Mexican vodka. It's so lovely, I used it in place of the vanilla paste. Straining the custard directly onto the rhubarb sauce in the pie plate was a bit tricky. I needed an extra hand, which I didn't have, to manage the strainer, bowl and spatula. Next time, I'll strain it into a bowl and then pour it into the pie plate.

This is a “nervous” pie. The center wobbles but the edges are firm. I'm not sure I baked it completely, but the recipe said to be careful not to over bake or the custard will curdle and separate and who wants curdled custard? Yuck.

Cut Pie

The pie is very tasty and pretty. The rhubarb “sauce” is smooth and tangy. A nice contrast to the sweet custard, although the rhubarb does have a little bitter aftertaste. Nothing to dissuade a person from making this pie. I should have baked the crust a little bit longer as it is soggy in places. A few more minutes in the oven would have prevented that.

I'd make this pie again!

Peggy