What is That? Celery Pie??

For followers of my blog, you probably already know how deeply I was affected by the loss of my Grandma a year ago. As the anniversary of her death approached, I was suddenly given a great gift by my former neighbor Joanne. A big bag of rhubarb! I know what you're saying.. rhubarb?? This time of year? Well as she explained it, she has a big patch of rhubarb in the yard at her new house and she cut it all down only to have it all grow right back! So with more rhubarb than she knew what to do with, she brought it to me.




In past years when Joanne lived right across the street from me, she had rhubarb in that yard too and she would give me tons and tons of it so I could give it to Grandma. Grandma made jam and cobbler, and pie and anything else she could think of to make with rhubarb. But now, it's up to me. Last year I made a cobbler that Nick and I both loved. But this time I decided to make pie like Grandma's.

I've gone over pie crust before, so if you need that recipe it can be found here. The recipe is either doubled or made twice because this pie has a top and a bottom crust.

You will need one pound of fresh strawberries, cleaned, hulled and cut into pieces. Basically I just cut them in half since they are a lot softer than rhubarb and will break down more when baked.


You will also need a pound of rhubarb, cleaned and sliced into about half inch pieces.


Mix the strawberries and the rhubarb together with the juice of one lemon (if it's a drier lemon, use two).

In a small bowl, mix together 3/4 cup of granulated sugar, 1/4 cup corn starch and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.


After you get your bottom crust in the pie plate, sprinkle about 2 Tablespoons of the sugar mixture on the bottom of the crust.


Then mix the rest in with the strawberries and rhubarb.



Pour the whole mixture into the pie crust. Dot the top with little pieces of butter. About 2 Tablespoons total. All you do is take little pieces of that butter and scatter them around the top of the fruit. You don't have to do this, but hey why not!? Everything is betta wit butta.



Now lay the second crust on top. You're going to have to vent the pie on top so steam can escape so if you want to be decorative, do that before you put the crust on top of the pie. I used a little star cookie cutter to make my vent.


As you can see, my fluting of the edges ability has not improved.

Brush the top crust with cream or milk and then sprinkle with sugar. Now this is imperative. Place the pie on a cookie sheet. DO NOT FORGET THIS STEP or you will have strawberry rhubarb molten lava in your stove.

Place the pie on the sheet in a preheated 400 degree oven. Bake for 30 minutes. If after 30 minutes the crust is getting too brown, then cover the edges with foil. Bake another 15 minutes. I didn't have a "too brown" issue with mine. It baked just fine. In fact, I ended up leaving it in probably for more like an hour total.


Maybe it sounds corny but I felt Grandma with me when I was baking that pie. All the years she tried to get me to eat hers and I was ascared of rhubarb. I have no idea why. But now, Nick and I love it. The pie came out perfect!



Can you see why we call it Celery Pie? =)

All local (almost), all yummy salad

Local flavors are in abundance more and more with each passing day. This was a very good day! The lettuce that I started from seed has grown like crazy! I couldn't wait to have a salad with it. All day long I planned on picking enough for a nice salad for Nick and I. But I had a lot of errands to run. At long last I was on my way home, but still had stops to make. First was the farmer's market that is in the square in Richfield, OH every Wednesday from 3:00 pm to 7 :00 pm. It doesn't have many vendors just yet, but it had enough this week that I stopped. I bought a quart of the most gorgeous home grown strawberries.

After that stop, I continued on my way to Szalay's market. They just opened for the season this week. Most known for their corn, they have expanded to carry a lot of produce, not all local, but most is. I picked up some locally grown beets and radishes.

Home at last! I took out my Ohio chicken and marinated it in my very un-Ohio balsamic vinegar. Then headed outside to pick my lettuce. Oh I'm so excited!!!! Look at this lush and beautiful pot of lettuces!!




I had plenty and tons more to pick for another day. After grilling my chicken, I then made my salad. Lettuce, radishes, those beautiful strawberries, and the grilled chicken. I even had New York brand of croutons which are, ta da, made in Ohio! My feta cheese, ok...not from Ohio. My olive oil and strawberry balsamic, also not from Ohio. But I felt great about this salad! It was delicious and tasted even better knowing how many local farmers helped me make it.

Rhubarb is a vegetable

My neighbor across the street, who is sadly moving away, has a huge rhubarb patch in her back yard. She's given tons of it to me every year and I promptly gave it all to my Grandma. Well Grandma hasn't been well lately and doesn't have much desire to cook. But the rhubarb is still there and my neighbor still wanted to give it to me. So I thought this year, I'd give it a go. I wanted to make something that utilized buttermilk because I had some left from making carrot cake. I did a search and found a recipe I thought sounded good, here at epicurean.com.

Start with two bags of frozen strawberries (the picture is showing ice on the strawberries, not sugar).




Add two pounds of fresh chopped rhubarb and lemon juice. Cover and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes.




In a small bowl combine your cornstarch and 1 cup of the sugar then slowly add to the pot of strawberries and rhubarb. Stir constantly for 4 minutes, until bowling. Then set aside and let cool slightly.

Make sure your oven is heated to 350 and your 13 x 9 is greased and ready to go. In a large bowl take 3 cups of the flour, 1 cup of the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and combine. Then with a pastry blender, two knifes, a fork or your hands (I use my hands) cut the butter into the flour mixture until it is the consistency of course crumbs (you can enlarge the photo by clicking on it and getting a better look at the consistency.




In a small bowl beat together the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla then stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour/butter mixture and mix only until combined. Then spread half of the mixture into the bottom of your 13 x 9 pan.




Then pour in the strawberry rhubarb mixture. Drop the rest of the cobbler batter by Tablespoonfuls over the strawberry/rhubarb mixture. In a small saucepan on low heat, melt remaining butter and then stir in remaining flour and sugar, stirring until the mix resembles course crumbs. Sprinkle this mixture over the cobbler. Bake for 40 -45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the bubbly. Be SURE to put a cookie sheet under your pan or you'll have a mess in your stove!






Cool for about 10 minutes or so, then serve with vanilla ice cream! YUM





Nick and I absolutely LOVED this. It really was delicious but if I had to pick a nit, I would say that it uses far too many bowls and pans!! Yikes.