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Summer Strawberries

June 26, 2020

It’s starting to feel like summer in Maine. We’ve had 90 degree weather last week and I already had a day by the pool but it didn’t feel like summer. The other day though I got a notification that my favorite strawberry farm would be open for pick your own this week. There is just something about picking your own berries that screams summer to me, it’s just something that is on my summer list year after year. Thankfully Maxwell’s Farm is only 10 minute drive from my home and they were able to make picking safe for everyone during Covid-19. It was opening day and it did not take me long to fill up my two quarts with bright red berries. Maybe it was because I couldn’t sample the berries along the way….

I still had some rhubarb left over from last week so I thought I’d make some Strawberry Rhubarb jam but Andrew requested a crisp, which is so so good. Then he had the idea to combine a pie and a crisp so here we are with our Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Tart. It was an experiment but it came out really yummy.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Tart

  • Servings: 6-8
  • Difficulty: easy
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INGREDIENTS

Filling:

2-4 stalks of Rhubarb, about 2 cups cut in ½ inch pieces

1 quart of strawberries, hulled and quartered

½ cup sugar

1 lemon, zested and juiced

½ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp salt

1 pie crust, either homemade or store bought

Crumble:

½ cup of butter, cold and cubed

¾ cup of flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

Directions:

In a bowl toss the fruit/veggie mix with ¼ cup of sugar. Once coated, place mixture in a colander with a bowl underneath and cover with plastic wrap. You are macerating the mixture to get the access liquid out. Let sit for 30 mins-or up to overnight (we did 4.5 hours)

Once you have gotten the desired liquid out, typically between ¼ and ½ cup, place the liquid along with the juice of one lemon and your zest in a small pot. Heat over medium heat to reduce by 1/2, do not let it boil or you’ll end up with a very fruity caramel.

While reducing your liquid, preheat oven to 450F and bake your crust for 10 minutes with pie weights and foil, after 10 minutes remove foil and weights and bake for another 3-5 minutes, watch closely you want it to be lightly golden. Let cool for about 15 minutes. Turn your oven temp down to 350F.

In a bowl, add your reduced liquid to your fruit/veggie mixture. Stir gently or toss to combine.

In another small bowl combine flour, sugar and spices. Cut in cold butter cubes, I just use my hands for this, and make a sandy crumble.

Place your pie/tart pan on a baking sheet and pour your fruit mixture onto your pie crust, top with crumble. Bake at 350F for 45-55 minutes.

Let the pie cool for at least 2 hours before cutting. I know it’s hard and you want to eat it warm with melty ice cream but don’t do it. Giving it time to cool will allow the filling to thicken so you don’t get runny pie juices all over the place when you cut in.

This will keep at room temperature for about 2-3 days, or in the fridge for a week.

Enjoy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. It tastes like summer 🙂

If you make this let me know!

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