Page 330 - Pie Squared

MOSTLY RHUBARB AND JUST A

LITTLE STRAWBERRY SLAB PIE

WITH A BUTTER AND SHORTENING CRUST

Serves 12 to 16

There was a big patch of rhubarb that grew at the edge of the farm
adjacent to my childhood home. It sat neglected, so everyone in the
neighborhood claimed it; we would take a penknife or garden
clippers or leverage our weight against the massive stalks and yank

them hard until they came out fast and we tumbled to the ground.
Harvesting a handful of stalks each week, my mother and I made
compote or pie again and again through the season. Rhubarb hits all
my happy spots—the pucker, the pink, the way it melts down into the

most perfectly textured pie filling. A few truly local, freshly gathered
strawberries are jewels in the crown. The iconic chef and cookbook
author Edna Lewis paired nutmeg with rhubarb and I think she was
so right.

Make Ahead: Freeze a pie’s worth of fresh, sliced rhubarb in ziptop

bags. A rhubarb pie in February is a beautiful thing.

BUTTER AND SHORTENING CRUST

2½ cups plus 2 tablespoons (325 g) all-purpose flour

8 tablespoons (113 g) unsalted butter, cubed and frozen for 20 minutes

8 tablespoons (113 g) Spectrum or other vegetable shortening, cubed and
frozen for 20 minutes

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

½ cup (120 ml) ice water