Cindy Crawford's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Years ago I was watching Oprah, and Cindy Crawford was on making this Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. Now I love Cindy Crawford she was my favourite of the Supermodels, so when she made this pie, I had to make it to.
It is delicious, the filling is absolutely fabulous. When I make this my 8 year old gets so excited.
The pastry is delicious also. I have made this a few times now and this pastry, well, it is a weird pastry. Today when I made it, it was perfect, it rolled perfectly, it was delicious. But, there was a time when I made it, I wanted to throw it out thinking I have done something wrong as it is crumbly and a little difficult to work with. But if you persevere, you will be rewarded with a delicious biscuit like crust. In my method I will explain it well, so you get it right. I have slightly altered Cindy's original pastry recipe, but only slightly. However if you have a pie crust recipe you love already, feel free to use it. I think it comes down to the measuring, it works perfectly when you use US size measuring cups, they are slightly smaller than my Australian measuring cups.
Now my 8 year old loves pie so I made this one day and he asked if the following day I could make it with apples also. So I did, I replaced 1 cup strawberries with 1 cup of chopped up apple. It was delicious also. Feel free to add a little lemon zest or vanilla extract for a flavour change.
Now you cannot eat this straight out of the oven, the filling will be too liquid and you won't be able to slice it at all. You need at least 1 hour of cooling time, 2 is even better. It allows the filling to thicken whilst cooling.
A tip for rolling the pastry, you can roll it between two sheets of baking paper, that can help with the flipping of the pastry. I do this quite often when rolling pastry.
The sugar in the filling is completely controlled by you, add less if you like it a little less sweet, but for me I love it this way. Serve it up with vanilla ice cream and enjoy every bite.
It is delicious, the filling is absolutely fabulous. When I make this my 8 year old gets so excited.
The pastry is delicious also. I have made this a few times now and this pastry, well, it is a weird pastry. Today when I made it, it was perfect, it rolled perfectly, it was delicious. But, there was a time when I made it, I wanted to throw it out thinking I have done something wrong as it is crumbly and a little difficult to work with. But if you persevere, you will be rewarded with a delicious biscuit like crust. In my method I will explain it well, so you get it right. I have slightly altered Cindy's original pastry recipe, but only slightly. However if you have a pie crust recipe you love already, feel free to use it. I think it comes down to the measuring, it works perfectly when you use US size measuring cups, they are slightly smaller than my Australian measuring cups.
Now my 8 year old loves pie so I made this one day and he asked if the following day I could make it with apples also. So I did, I replaced 1 cup strawberries with 1 cup of chopped up apple. It was delicious also. Feel free to add a little lemon zest or vanilla extract for a flavour change.
Now you cannot eat this straight out of the oven, the filling will be too liquid and you won't be able to slice it at all. You need at least 1 hour of cooling time, 2 is even better. It allows the filling to thicken whilst cooling.
A tip for rolling the pastry, you can roll it between two sheets of baking paper, that can help with the flipping of the pastry. I do this quite often when rolling pastry.
The sugar in the filling is completely controlled by you, add less if you like it a little less sweet, but for me I love it this way. Serve it up with vanilla ice cream and enjoy every bite.
Recipe
Recipe adapted from Cindy Crawford's appearance on Oprah
Serves 8
Pastry:
2 2/3 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
Filling:
1 - 1 1/4 cups caster sugar (depends on sweetness of strawberries)
1/3 cup plain flour
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups halved strawberries
2 cups thinly sliced rhubarb
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chopped into small pieces
2 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons caster sugar, extra
Serves 8
Pastry:
2 2/3 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
Filling:
1 - 1 1/4 cups caster sugar (depends on sweetness of strawberries)
1/3 cup plain flour
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups halved strawberries
2 cups thinly sliced rhubarb
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chopped into small pieces
2 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons caster sugar, extra
In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt together. Pour the milk and oil into a jug, but do not stir it. Add the oil mixture to the flour. Stir until mixed well, and shape into 2 flat balls (it will be crumbly, squish it together), one larger than the other, one being the base, the other the top. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan forced. Grease a deep pie dish with cooking spray or butter.
Roll out the larger ball (pastry base) on a lightly floured pastry mat. The pastry can be crumbly, if it is keep flipping it over, while rolling, as I find it the easiest way to get both sides smooth, if not crumbly but it is sticky, dust with a little more flour while rolling. If it splits or cracks around the edges pinch it together. Roll out until it is 3-5mm thick and will cover the base and sides of your pie dish. If you have cracks or holes, use a little pastry from the pie top, to press onto the cracks. It doesn't matter if it isn't perfect looking, just make sure there are no holes in the base.
Place the pie base in the oven for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the filling: Place the sugar, flour, nutmeg and cinnamon in a large bowl. Mix together. Add the strawberries and rhubarb, stir the fruit to coat with the flour mixture, again it doesn't need to be perfect.
Roll out the pie top until 3-5mm thick and is slightly bigger than the pie dish.
Roll out the larger ball (pastry base) on a lightly floured pastry mat. The pastry can be crumbly, if it is keep flipping it over, while rolling, as I find it the easiest way to get both sides smooth, if not crumbly but it is sticky, dust with a little more flour while rolling. If it splits or cracks around the edges pinch it together. Roll out until it is 3-5mm thick and will cover the base and sides of your pie dish. If you have cracks or holes, use a little pastry from the pie top, to press onto the cracks. It doesn't matter if it isn't perfect looking, just make sure there are no holes in the base.
Place the pie base in the oven for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the filling: Place the sugar, flour, nutmeg and cinnamon in a large bowl. Mix together. Add the strawberries and rhubarb, stir the fruit to coat with the flour mixture, again it doesn't need to be perfect.
Roll out the pie top until 3-5mm thick and is slightly bigger than the pie dish.
Pour all of the filling over the pastry in the pie dish. Scatter on dollops of the chopped butter, over the fruit filling.
Place pastry on top, if you have holes in it, don't fear as if you didn't you would have to cut some anyway to let the steam escape. Pinch the edges down to seal. Any excess pastry I don't chop off, I just fold it over and have a slightly thicker edge, which makes for a crispy, delicious crust edge. If you want to tidy the edge, use the extra pastry to make shapes and place on top of the pie, as decoration. Brush the top with the milk and sprinkle the extra sugar on top. (If you didn't have holes in your pastry top, remember to cut one or two now).
Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 190C/170C fan force and continue to bake a further 50 minutes (you can cover the edges with aluminium foil if cooking too fast and are looking burnt).
Allow to cool for 1-2 hours before serving. Serve with cream or vanilla ice cream.
Enjoy!