Strawberry Rhubarb Pie and a fun video....Happy Sunday!

Still enjoying strawberries.....

So the other day, my brother and his sister were arriving and I was reorganizing my refrigerator to make some room (I was also trying to figure out what were having for dessert that night...).  I had bought some wonderful strawberries at the market and remembered that I had some frozen rhubarb in the freezer.  A little confession here - I really don't bake that often, but I love a good pie and cake (most of the time when someone else makes it).  It's not that I can't bake, it's just I don't take the time.  To be honest sometimes it can create too many dirty dishes...and I really don't like to do dishes!  So as far as baking goes, if I can find a good shortcut which still tastes delicious - I'm all for it!!  I am finding that since I have more time, I'm venturing a bit more into the baking realm.

Anyway, the frozen rhubarb - saw it at Picard (a frozen food store here in France - with freshly frozen foods - most of their items are really tasty and excellent quality to begin with.) and figured I could save it until I was ready to make a pie.  I also often by organic all ready made pie crust....(less work and time saved here too.)  So with a pie crust on hand, the frozen rhubarb, I decided to mix it with my fresh strawberries and make a pie for dessert.  The only problem that I realized was that I had only one pie crust - so I opted for a crumb topping.  The following is the recipe that I used...(one more substitution was I didn't have rolled oats in the house - so used  the oat clusters from my favorite breakfast cereal...these also contained some pieces of roasted coconut...made for a delicious topping!)  I have included it in both US and metric measurements.

Strawberry /Rhubarb Crumb Pie - Metric

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 200 g sugar
• 15 g all-purpose flour
• 5 ml vanilla extract
• 340 g fresh rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (I used frozen)
• 355 g fresh strawberries, halved
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell -  feuilletées (sweeter crust)
• 
  
• TOPPING:
• 95 g all-purpose flour
• 110 g packed brown sugar
• 40 g quick-cooking or rolled oats (substituted oat clusters from cereal)
• 115 g cold butter

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg. Add the sugar, flour and vanilla; mix well. Gently fold in rhubarb and strawberries. Pour into pastry shell.
2. For topping, combine flour, brown sugar and oats in a small bowl; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over fruit. Bake at 205 degrees C for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 180 degrees C bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Cool on a wire rack.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Pie - US

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 pound fresh rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (I used frozen)
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, halved
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell -   feuilletées (sweeter crust)
• 
  
• TOPPING:
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup quick-cooking or rolled oats (substituted oat clusters from cereal)
• 1/2 cup cold butter

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg. Add the sugar, flour and vanilla; mix well. Gently fold in rhubarb and strawberries. Pour into pastry shell.
2. For topping, combine flour, brown sugar and oats in a small bowl; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over fruit. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Cool on a wire rack.

Have to say - it came out delicious!!  The frozen rhubarb worked great and  the pie crust and crumble were also very tasty!  By the way, in France I used the pie crust for pastries -  feuilletées (sweeter crust) as opposed to the brisse used for more savory tarts.


Here's a photo of the creation!  (Do remember to place tarte or pie plate on a cookie sheet when cooking - it will bubble over a bit...hence, why on one side - the crumb topping slid off...it was a pretty tasty sample too!!)

So Happy Sunday!!  My girls came home from a week of sailing camp last night in great spirits and absolutely dying to return next year!!  I will post more later about their camp experience...both like their mother took cameras and used them.  I'm also piecing together all the stories as they come out.  Their first cousins are also visiting so we are busy enjoying the area with them....I will end this post with a video that I a fellow blogger shared from the web - thank you Chez Loulou! - fun and entertaining!  Just recently done in Paris.