Easy as - strawberry rhubarb

Contrary to what you might see represented on my blog as of late, I am not a big fan of cakes. There are a few cakes I LOVE and for which I will go out of my way, but on the whole I prefer fruit pies. This is no doubt due to the fact that my family - Mom and her 4 sisters to be exact - love to make pies and are EXCELLENT at it. There is a homemade pie on the dessert table at every family get together. And by homemade pie, I mean a store-bought crust has never seen the inside of any family member's home. Apple, peach, apricot, black bottom, custard, fresh strawberry, pumpkin, pecan, banana cream, lemon meringue, blackberry, pumpkin-chiffon, strawberry-rhubarb... Heck, the story my father tells about his first experience meeting my mom's family even has to do with pie:

Dad has very recently been introduced to Mom's sisters, Betty and Fran
Scene: Betty's Kitchen

Fran: [forks and tastes her first bite of Betty's homemade apple pie. Pauses; continues chewing; pauses again] "Betty - this is the WORST pie I've ever eaten."

Dad was completely floored at the blatant honesty and sat back to wait for fireworks - bracing himself for a fight, argument, raised voices in defense...

Betty: [waving a dismissive hand] "Oh I know - I shouldn't have even served it."

And Dad, shockingly relieved, lived to tell the story...

My absolute favorite pie is a strawberry-rhubarb which I believe originated (in my immediate family) from my Dad's mother - that's right we get it on both sides! I've been wanting to make my first strawberry-rhubarb pie of 2008 ever since I saw those bright red stalks of rhubarb appear in my local grocery store sometime in the last few weeks.

Cutting shortening into flour & salt; Such simple ingredients make something so wonderful!

We have a barbecue at a friend's place tonight and I volunteered to bring a dessert. I started rolling out the dough and realized that I would most definitely have extra - now, I don't feel bad throwing out extra dough, but what I can't throw out is extra strawberries and rhubarb already cut and mixed with sugar and flour for the filling. Fortunately I bought those little tart pans last week. Made for a perfect sampling to "make sure it tasted okay" before taking to the BBQ! ;)

I get bored of doing the same plain top crust with each pie I make so I decided to try something new after seeing a similar style on an episode of Martha Stewart months back. It took a while but was really a lot of fun and almost felt like a craft project!

Cut little fluted rounds and "glued" to the top with egg wash

It was fantastic! The familiar flavors of my absolute favorite pie that I've been eating as long as I can remember. But fancied up just the perfect amount!

Oh my...

I could eat this pie every day - and fully intend to make more of them before this summer is up. Thank goodness for rhubarb and strawberry season!