My Grandma's Rhubarb Pie

Grandma's Rhubarb Pie

I know I'm not the only one who thinks that her grandma made the best pies in the world.  But mine really did.  Even people from outside the family said so!  My second cousin opened a restaurant in the area several years ago and she told me all the pies she served were made by her mother, who learned how to make pies from my grandma.  People raved about those pies and would go there to eat just for the pleasure of finishing the meal with one of their homemade pies.  My grandma passed away over 20 years ago and although I don't always make the right choices at the right time, thank God I had the good sense to spend some time with her in the kitchen before it was too late.  My grandma showed me how she made her delicious, flaky pie crusts in just a fraction of the time it took other folks.  She didn't bother rolling the dough out.  She mixed flour, a  little cold milk, a bit of sugar, a pinch of salt, and some vegetable oil together in a mixing bowl and then dumped it into a pie plate.

Pie dough dumped in a pie plate

Then she would pat the dough down into the plate until she had a beautifully formed pie crust.

This method takes about five minutes, start to finish, and the crust always turns out flaky and delicious.  Whenever I'm making fruit pies, I always hold out some of the dough clumps to crumble on the top of the pie before baking.

I loved all my grandma's pies, but my favorite was her rhubarb.  It's taken me a while to be willing to share her recipe, but good food should be shared with family and friends and perhaps, in this case, maybe even a few strangers.  In the tradition of most grandma's, she never measured things out and I've had to guess and adjust the amount of ingredients.  Although my pies are very good, they don't taste quite like Grandma's.  I don't know if it's because I'm missing that emotional element that made eating my grandma's food so pleasurable, but I've resigned myself to the possibility that my pies might never be quite as good as hers.  If you give this a try, do let me know how it turns out for you!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 c (more or less) chopped rhubarb (about 1 inch or smaller pieces)
1 T fresh lemon juice
1/3 c unsalted butter, melted
1/4 t salt
dash of cinnamon
2 c sugar (I don't like my pie real sweet so I use a bit less)
1/4 (scant) c flour
1 c half and half
1 9 inch pie crust

Method:
1.  Mix all the ingredients, except crust, in a large bowl.  Do this in the order listed, mixing after each addition (salt, cinnamon, and sugar can be added all at once) so that the ingredients blend correctly and adhere nicely to the fruit.

2.  Pour filling into pie crust (sprinkle crumbs on top if you saved any out, dot with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon.)

3.  Bake at 350 for one hour.  (Check to make sure it doesn't get too brown.  If the crust is browning too quiclkly cover lightly with tin foil.)

A slice of rhubarb pie with homemade ginger ice cream