Strawberry-Rhubarb Deep-Dish Pie

SpchTeachCooks's Note:

Yaay! It's strawberry season right now here in California, time to make my favorite pie. Want to post this for safekeeping here as I just had a scare and couldn't find my cookbook - this is not a recipe I want to lose! Got it from Good Housekeeping Book of Desserts, which is one of the best cookbooks on sweets that I have ever found! I have been making this pie for years now, and it's one of the few things that my incredibly over-picky kids will eat. Does take a bit of time and effort, between making the crust and sweetening/juicing up the berries, then baking and letting it cool for a bit. You can vary the top crust, I like the "criss-cross" lattice look for this one with the juicy red berries oozing on top. GREAT tasting on its own, but, if you add fresh whip cream and/or ice cream on top when it's still just a little warm, it is fantastic!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 10

Yield: 1.0 deep-di ...

• 2 pints strawberries
• 1 lb rhubarb (without tops, or can use frozen)
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 1⁄3; cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca (to thicken it)
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• pastry for double-crust pie (*see notes)
• 1 tablespoon butter (or margarine, if you prefer)
• 1 tablespoon milk

Directions:

1. Hull strawberries, cut each in half. Cut rhubarb into 1/2 inch pieces (or if using frozen, thaw and drain).
2. In large bowl, gently toss berries and rhubarb with sugar, flour, tapioca, vanilla extract, and salt.
3. Let strawberry-rhubarb mixture stand 30 minutes to soften tapioca, stir occasionally.
4. * While waiting, prepare pastry dough (*Pie Crust: my favorite personal recipe is 2 cups flour + 6-7 tablespoons of Crisco butter flavor shortening, mashed together till forms crumbles and a few tablespoons of ice cold water stirred in until it forms a dough, then divided into 2 balls, wrapped in plastic wrap, and chilled until you're ready to roll it into pie crusts).
5. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
6. Roll out dough, put one crust in deep pie plate, fill pie with berries mixture, Top with bits of butter.
7. Roll 2nd crust and cut into 10 strips -- 5 will go one direction, other 5 will cross over first 5 to form a lattice (a picture would be worth 1000 words here). Press/crimp sides of pie. Brush lattice surface with milk.
8. Bake in oven for 50 mins.or until it looks golden brown on top. (Keep a baking sheet under pie pan in case of juices flowing over side of pie dish).
9. Should let pie stand about an hour to cool down a bit and let juices set, but I have a hard time waiting THAT long.