Once upon a time, more than 15 years ago, I found myself with a few quarts of strawberries and a ripe rhubarb plant in the back yard. I decided to make a pie. I pulled out my mom's old yellowed falling-apart Betty Crocker cookbook and searched for a strawberry rhubarb pie recipe. I couldn't find one, so I used an apple cranberry pie recipe instead.
My uncles raved about that pie, so I must have served it to them.
One uncle said I'm make a good wife someday due to my pie-making abilities.
What he didn't know was that I'd used a Betty Crocker premade crust for the pie.
Now I know how to make my own crusts from scratch - and I have a rolling pin to make them with. All I needed were the berries and the rhubarb.
On Saturday morning I headed to Madison. When I arrived, my dad was reading the paper in his usual breakfast spot and he announced that strawberry season was officially open. Hurray!
We headed down to a nearby farmers' market where I picked up a pound of heirloom rhubarb ($3.00), a quart of strawberries ($6 - but you'll pay that for the first berries of the season!), a bag of washed spinach ($3) and a container of whole milk yogurt ($2.75). I didn't want to go too crazy because I knew our first CSA pickup of the summer was coming up in a few days.
I had lunch with my mom, ran into a good friend at the little bakery that made my wedding cake, and did some gardening/yardwork with my dad.
Saturday night I went to a friend's wedding reception, so there wasn't time to bake a pie, but by Sunday afternoon the berries were calling to me.
It tastes as good as it looks.
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