I’ve never made a rhubarb pie before (considering I’ve only made pie a couple of times in my life) so I thought, why the hell not?  I bought some strawberries too and that’s how the pie was born (well…the idea of it at least).

Well I made the pie and I’m proud to say, it was delicious.  Although as you can see from the picture, I need to work on my crust making skills.  They aren’t quite up to par yet.  The decorations on top are a strawberry and a rhubarb leaf (in case you can’t quite make it out).

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

From All Recipes

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 6 tablespoons milk
• 5 medium stalks rhubarb, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 1/2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3 1/2 tablespoons tapioca
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

1. To Make Crust: In a large bowl, combine the flour and the salt. Place the 1/2 cup oil in a 1 cup sized measuring cup and top with the 6 tablespoons of milk. DO NOT MIX! Pour oil and milk over flour and blend with a fork until it forms a ball of dough. Divide dough into 2 balls. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Place one ball on sheet of waxed paper. Top with another sheet of waxed paper and roll out to fit your pie plate. Repeat with remaining ball of dough. Peel top paper off of one crust and flip dough into pie plate. Peel off paper and press dough in. Save remaining dough for top crust.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
3. To Make Filling: Mix the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, tapioca, salt and nutmeg until the fruit is well coated. Pour filling into the crust and dot with butter. Cover with top crust, seal edges and cut three 1 inch slits in top of crust.
4. Bake pie at 425 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 minutes. Reduce temperature to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Let pie cool before cutting.(we couldn’t wait and had a runny pie…)
   

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to find an assortment of lettuce options, all of which would be great for a salad. The temperatures have been 90+ recently and my house lacks air conditioning. Any measure I could take to avoid turning on the oven was taken. Plus, I found a great recipe for Shallot Vinaigrette at the market. I made the dressing yesterday and ate the salad today. Simple, yet delicious salad of leaf lettuce, bibb lettuce, arugula, toasted pine nuts, goat cheese, strawberries and vinaigrette.

Shallot Vinairgrette
Adapted from a Coke Farm Recipe

-2 tbsp red wine vinegar
-1 shallot, diced
-1 tbsp dijon mustard
-1-2 tsp honey
-6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
-salt and pepper to taste

Add vinegar to shallot and let sit for 10 minutes. Add mustard and whisk in honey and olive oil. Will keep for a couple of days in the fridge.