Easy as Pie

I have friends that don't know idioms.  Or maybe they don't know western idioms.  They are both Taiwanese and grew up in Asian households. One night there was a competition between the two of them.  An "Idiom Off" so to say.  One of them would take a turn and say, "The grass is greener on the other side!" and the next would reply "Better safe than sorry!". Probably after 5 comical and struggling rounds of this, it soon became me whispering into my friend's ear and another more "westernly cultured" friend whispering into the competitor's ear.  After a few more rounds I leaned over and whispered, "Easy as pie" only to be met by a harsh face of doubt and hesitation to say it out loud.  "That's NOT one!"... "Haha hey everyone, Kalen says, 'Easy as pie' ppfffftt!" ....then everyone else responded yelling "THAT IS ONE!!!!"

Easy as pie.  Apparently the easy is referring to the eating of the pie, and not the making.  It makes sense.  Pie is easy to eat.  I don't think you meet a lot of people that don't like pie.  When someone doesn't like cake, they definitely like pie.  When someone isn't that into sweets, they still like fruit pies.  Pie is inherent in our nature  (Go with it).  Who says no to eating pie? 

Turns out, I love making pie.  I know pie crust can be woeful, but I can now make a good pie crust in a jiffy.  I've figured out I really enjoy cutting cold butter into flour.   It's therapeutic.  Cheesy, I know.  But really, pie can be easy to make and eat.  It just crust, rolling, fruit, sugar and spice, a thickener, some butter, more rolling, and pinching. Easy as pie! 

 

Baking in my mom's kitchen is so nice.  Everything is open and organized and fancy as compared to my tiny apartment kitchen.  When I was home we BBQed some steaks, had some caipirinhas, and had an impromptu game night with some old friends.  We had bought rhubarb the day before because I had never baked with it and was curious.  So before we sat down to games, I threw a strawberry rhubarb pie together and popped it in the oven.


The pie was easy!  I swear!  It was also really easy to eat it.  Almost too easy because we couldn't even wait until it was cool enough to slice it.  The tartness of the rhubarb was complemented perfectly by the sweet farmer's market strawberries.  Because of the heat, it hadn't thickened all the way, but it was still delicious.  Go figure, pie is awesome in every form.

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Your favorite pie crust!
3 1/2 cups (about 1 1/2 pounds, untrimmed) rhubarb, in 1/2-inch thick slices
3 1/2 cups (about 1 pound) strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Cream and Sugar for glazing and dusting

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
On a well-floured counter, roll out half of pie dough enough to cover a 9-inch pie plate.  Gently set it in your dish, with the edges overhanging on the sides. 
Stir together rhubarb, strawberries, sugars, lemon, salt and cornstarch in a large bowl. Mound filling inside bottom pie crust and dot with bits of unsalted butter. Roll second half of pie dough out to cover the top of the pie. Trim and crimp your crust with your fingers or a fork and cut slits in the top to vent the pie.
Transfer pie to a baking sheet and brush cream on the top crust.  Sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 minutes then reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 25 to 30 minutes, until the pie is golden and the juices bubble visibly.
Transfer pie to wire rack to cool. When fully cool the juices will gel and it will be ready to slice.  Or if you can't wait any longer like me, just cut it and be okay with the juiciness.  Serve with some vanilla ice cream!