Edna Lewis’s Rhubarb Pie
Updated October 29, 2015
Elizabeth Lippman for The New York Times
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
FOR THE CRUST
1 ½ cups, plus 2 teaspoons, sifted flour, plus additional flour for rolling the pastry
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup chilled lard, cut into small chunks
¼ cup cold water
FOR THE FILLING
⅔ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 teaspoons cornstarch
4 cups chopped fresh rhubarb
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
28 grams carbs; 8 milligrams cholesterol; 201 calories; 5 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 10 grams fat; 2 grams fiber; 293 milligrams sodium; 1 gram protein; 23 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
To make the crust, put 1 ½ cups of the flour in a bowl with the salt and lard and combine quickly with fingertips. Add the water and stir to combine; the dough will be sticky. Add the remaining flour, form into a ball and put in refrigerator for 15 minutes.
- Step 2
Divide the dough in two. Lightly flour a board; roll half the dough to cover the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan and put it in the pan. Flour the board again, and roll out the remaining dough. Using a pastry wheel or a sharp knife, cut the dough into ¾-inch strips and put on wax paper.
- Step 3
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. To make the filling, combine the sugar, nutmeg and cornstarch in a bowl. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of this mixture on the pastry in the pie pan. Combine the remaining sugar mixture with the rhubarb and fill the pie. Moisten the rim of the pastry with water and make a latticework top over the pie with the dough strips. Crimp the edges well. Bake pie for 40 minutes .
Private Notes
Comments
We love rhubarb on Ireland and we love butter. I make pastry for rhubarb pie with butter. Freeze 6 oz butter for at least 12 hours. Hand grate into 8 oz plain flour. Dip butter up and down in flour as you do this. Flick grated butter through flour wwith a knife. Sprinkle 2/3 tablespoons iced water over flour/butter. Bring together very quickly. Chill for 30 mins. I use salted butter. Really good with rhubarb.
If you want to take this recipe up a notch, add the zest of a small orange. My friend, Pat, has been making me a rhubarb pie for my birthday for the last 35 years and we believe a hint of orange makes the perfect rhubarb pie. And we never ruin a rhubarb pie with strawberries which wrecks both a rhubarb pie and a fresh strawberry pie!
I substitute a slosh of maple syrup (preferably dark) for the sugar in all the rhubarb desserts I make. The rhubarb takes up the syrup like celery takes up water, yielding an even sweetness with no sour spots. If you use the syrup and dot well with butter, you probably don't need the cornstarch either.
The pie in the photo has obviously been brushed with some kind of glaze. An egg wash perhaps? No mention of it in the recipe. It’s just one of those things that food stylists do to make the food more photogenic. This drives me crazy! I hate when they do that. First of all an egg wash on a pie will make the crust less flaky, and it masks the true taste and texture of a beautiful pie crust. And novice bakers don’t understand why their pie doesn’t look like the picture. Egg washes should only be used on things like Danish dough and puff pastry, not on pie dough. Tell the food stylists to strictly follow the recipe and don’t embellish it.
4 C rhubarb not enough. Added a big package of strawberries + 1/3 C sugar. 1/4 C of instant clear gel. Lower temp to 400? Took almost an hour to cook.
Easiest and best rhubarb pie. Dont mess with it too much and you can count on great results.