The sweet of summer

I love summer. The sun, the heat, the beautiful flowers, and the garden fresh bounty. At my house, I have a garden that sits in full sun from 11am until sunset. So this year, I planted vegetables for the first time. Just so you know, I have been renovating my house for that last 3 years, and finally got the back garden pulled together last year, so this was my first year planting. This picture was taken at 6:30 pm, just to give you an idea of the light.

Remember, I have never planted a vegetable garden before. A garden yes, but vegetable no I always had shade. So I started this year with rhubarb and two different tomato and hot pepper varieties. I have already learned a lot, like next year buy fewer tomato plants. In case you hadn't noticed, they seem to be taking over my garden. But I will use them, tomato sauce, oven dried tomato, etc.which of course I will share here with you. However, the reason for todays entry is that I have already had the luxury of using something from my garden, rhubarb. I was sure to purchase a plant that was a few years old as you can only harvest rhubarb from a plant that is at least 2 years old.
So, what did I make? Strawberry rhubarb pie! Mmmm....so good. With local Ontario strawberries, sweet and delicious and rhubarb from my garden, this was a delicious pie, better than most if I do say so myself. :)

So, the recipe starts with the pie pastry, which you can view in my blog entry on pie pastry. The filling is made as follows:

4 cups chopped rhubarb
2 cups chopped strawberries
3-6 tbsp cornstarch (I like mine less liquidy so I use 6 tbsp)
2 tbsp sugar

Mix it up and roll out your pastry and place it into your pie dish. Fill it with your fruit, remember, it may seem like a lot, but it cooks down, a lot.

With the top, once you have rolled it out, you will slice it into 10 equal sized strips (approx. 1"). Take your longest piece and lay it across the centre of your pie, and then follow it with the next longest directly across, making a "+" . With each following piece, be sure to alternate top and bottom, creating your lattice.

Make an egg wash and brush your pie and sprinkle with sugar.

Allow it to chill for 30mins, before placing it into a 400 degree preheated oven for 10 mins, and then turn the heat down to 350 and bake for another 50 mins or until the crust is golden brown. Allow it to come to room temperature and enjoy...