On Monday, five friends gathered in one kitchen with three bottles of prosecco to tackle the monstrous rhubarb currently taking over one friend’s garden. It’s beautiful – thick and solid red, and I pilfer it as often as possible; when we pluck stalks from the crown (which is the size of a VW Beetle) it never seems to get any smaller. But this time she went in determined, and there was enough rhubarb to fill three of her biggest stock pots, and then some. We each brought strawberries, and pounds of butter. We nibbled on cheese as we chopped and trimmed, and got flour everywhere doubling up my grandma’s standard formula for pastry for a double crust pie (you don’t want to multiply this kind of thing too many times – plus pastry for ten pies in one bowl becomes rather unwieldy) and mixed, chilled, rolled, filled, almost managing a sort of assembly line by the end, with finished pies getting deposited on every spare surface, but mostly the dining room table. It was dark by the time we finished. (Can you tell by my moody, brooding and buttery iPhone pics?)

In 3 hours, we made 25 pies – and each of us went home and played our own version of freezer Tetris to get them in.

I highly suggest gathering a few pals for a weekday pie party. We went with a pretty basic filling – strawberries and rhubarb, sugar and cornstarch. You could add vanilla, or lemon zest, or raspberries instead of strawberries, or really whatever you like. Our scraps became rustic lattices for some pie tops – as it got darker, we got less concerned with perfection. Freeze your pies raw, then bake from frozen, adding about 15 minutes to the cooking time.

I didn’t think there was a way to improve on pie – regardless of how much your pastry might get overhandled, it’s even better made with a small posse of friends, armed with butter and rhubarb.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

AuthorJulie

Yields8 Servings

Pastry:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp sugar

pinch salt

1 cup butter, chilled and grated or cut into pieces

1/2 cup cold water

Filling:

3 cups chopped rhubarb

2 cups chopped strawberries

3/4-1 cup sugar

3 Tbsp cornstarch

To make the pastry, combine the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add (or grate in) the butter and blend with your fingers or a pastry cutter until the mixture is coarse, with pea-sized pieces of butter. If you like, rub them between your fingers and thumbs to make flat flaky pieces of butter. Add the water and stir just until the dough comes together—don’t worry if it looks a bit shaggy. Gather into a ball, divide in half (I usually make once piece slightly smaller than the other, for the lid), shape each into a disc, wrap in plastic and let rest or refrigerate for an hour (or up to 3 days). Alternatively, let it rest for about 20 minutes and use it right away, or freeze to use later on.

When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 400F. On a lightly floured surface, roll the larger half of dough out into a 10-12-inch circle and transfer to the pie plate, gently pressing it into the bottom and letting the edges hang over. Put your rhubarb and strawberries into a large bowl (you can use the same one without needing to wash it) and in a small bowl or measuring cup, stir together the sugar and cornstarch. (Use 3/4 cup sugar if you like a more tart pie, or if you have more strawberries than rhubarb.) Pour over the fruit and toss to coat.

Scrape the fruit into the pie crust and roll out the lid in the same manner. Drape over the pie, pressing down around the edge to seal, trim away the excess pastry and crimp the edge if you like.

You can wrap and freeze your pie at this point, then bake it from frozen, adding an extra 15 minutes or so of baking time. Otherwise, bake it at 400F for 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 350F for an hour, or until the crust is golden and the pie is bubbly. Let cool before slicing. Serves about 8.

Categorydessert, pie

Ingredients