So, I researched, developed, and (might I add) perfected this deep-dish rhubarb pie recipe kind of a while ago in blog years (ie: two weeks ago). And although I was extremely pleased with how it turned out (it’s totally delicious and I love the way it looks — i’m a sucker for pies that reject the constrains of a pie plate) and with the praise it garnered from my dinner party guests, I have had the hardest time sitting down to write about it. I’m not sure what the writer’s block is about. iIt might be my resistance to jumping on the slightly precious “I only bake seasonally” bandwagon (rhubarb is such a predictable ingredient right now) or my preoccupation with the recipe for chocolate banana-bread bread pudding that I am in the process of developing, or the freelance job I’ve had these last weeks, proofreading a gorgeous, but mammoth, manuscript for a recently translated baking cookbook. I’m not sure, but the truth is, this rhubarb pie recipe is simple to make, produces the tastiest of treats, and is oh so spring-y (hello, seasonal police) and I’m finally ready to tell you about it, so here goes.
Although I had been thinking about developing something with rhubarb, despite my desire to avoid the aforementioned “bandwagon,” for quite some while, due to the copious amounts growing in my garden it was the picture of Joanne Chang’s strawberry slab pie in Food & Wine that truly inspired this recipe for deep-dish pie yumminess. I stumbled upon her recipe while sitting in the orthodontist’s office (no, i am not getting braces — I was waiting for one of my testers to get fitted for head gear) and truth be told, I “inadvertently” slipped the issue right into my bag (ie: I’m not only anti “seasonal,” I’m a thief to boot). As I mentioned above, I love a pie that is baked in a shape other than round, and although I’ve seen rhubarb pie bars baked in square pans, I hadn’t yet seen a pie baked in such a manner. I was smitten.
However, though I love strawberries (strawberry malted milkshake recipe coming soon, to a blog near you) and double-crusted pies, I was eager to try my hand at a “straight-up” (ie: exclusively rhubarb) rhubarb pie a la Anne Dimock, and was kind of jonesing for a pie with a crumb-topping. I looked at Saveur for additional rhubarb-only inspiration and to Martha Stewart (and Land O’Lakes, I’m not going to lie) for oat-less crumb-topping guidance. (I like my topping sans oats, i.e. only flour, butter, and sugar.) And with the above research carefully logged, I developed this:
A pie with a whopping 8 cups of rhubarb (we’re talking deep-dish here, people), a generous amount of both light brown and granulated sugars (I’ve got a sweet-tooth after all), an egg and a couple of yolks (kind of an interesting addition in my opinion, and inspired by the above recipes, arrow root as a thickener, and being a rhubarb purist, nary a spicy-addition save for cinnamon. The crust for my pie’s bottom is my own favorite pie crust and the crumb, a perfect blend of buttery-sugary-deliciousness. Yes, it has taken me a tad longer than usual to get this recipe to you, but I promise that you will be very pleased with yourself, as will those who are partial to seasonal sweets, once you taste this gorgeous, crumb-topped, rhubarb-only, square-pie.
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