Rhubarb Pie!

Since I haven't posted a recipe in a while, I decided to make a rhubarb pie this morning for my online friends. Of course for me too; I think it's my favorite pie of all, and something I treat myself to at least once each spring. Just look at that gorgeous pink tangy goodness, surrounded by a flaky, buttery crust...mmmm! When I first moved to this house, there was a rhubarb plant in the backyard, but it was of the green stalked variety and very very tart. I bought a plant with pink stalks, which is so much prettier when cooked, and more flavorful. I've since divided it several times and now have 5 plants, enough for three batches of jam (my mother loves rhubarb jam, recipe here), pies, cake (here's a recipe for rhubarb sour cream cake), and a couple of gallon bags of frozen pieces for winter cooking.

I'm sure that those of you who make pies have your favorite crust recipes. Mine uses 2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 stick of butter plus 3 tablespoons of solid vegetable shortening aka Crisco, 1/3 cup cold water (approximately). I have a charming old pastry blender that does a great job at cutting the butter into the flour, a tool I highly recommend. A secret of good pie dough is to handle the dough lightly, without over mixing. I roll out the dough using a pastry cloth and covered rolling pin.

For the filling for a 9 inch pie:
4 generous cups of rhubarb, in one inch slices
1 1/3 cups sugar. (my original recipe had 1 2/3 cups sugar, but I don't like the pie to be too sweet, but add more sugar if you like or if your rhubarb is very tart)
1/3 cup flour

Mix together and let stand for 15 minutes while you prepare the crust. Turn the mixture from time to time.
Put the filling in the bottom crust and dot with a tablespoon of butter. Cover with top crust. Brush with beaten egg for a golden, shiny appearance.

Preheat oven to 450º.
Bake at 450º for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 350º and cook for an additional 40-45 minutes.
Enjoy!