Recipe of the Week: Fresh Rhubarb Pie

I just realized, I should have put up a Thanksgiving recipe. So in honor of the holiday I'm going to add another Recipe of the Week. This recipe is one of Matt's favorite and is from The Pushing Daisies secret recipes from the Pie Hole, with some commentary.

Fresh Rhubarb Pie

4 cups chopped rhubarb

1 1/3 cup white sugar

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon butter

(I like to use 2 cups rhubarb and 2 cups fresh strawberries instead of the 4 cups rhubarb)

Preheat oven to 450°

Combine sugar and flour. Sprinkle 1/4 of it over pastry in pie plate. Heap rhubarb (and strawberries) over this mixture. Sprinkle with remaining sugar and flour. Dot with small pieces of butter. Cover with top crust.

Place pie on lowest rack in oven. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°, and continue baking for 40 to 45 minutes. Serve warm or cold. (I vote warm)

For the Crust:

(Only makes one crust, needs to be doubled for a covered pie)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening, chilled

3 tablespoons ice water

Whisk the flour and salt together in a medium size bowl. With a pastry blender, cut in the cold shortening (I like using unsalted butter, terrible for you, but it tastes amazing) until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle 2 to 3 tablespoons ice water over flour. Toss mixture with a fork to moisten, adding more water a few drops at a time until the dough comes together

Gently gather dough particles together into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling. (I never let it chill, I just make a pie with it and it usually turns out fine)

Roll out Dough, and put in a pie plate. (If making a covered pie, split in half then roll it out to make the top and bottom crusts)