Tag: rhubarb

Between the bright red rhubarb and the creamy cream cheese, Martha’s tart is no shrinking violet. In fact, you might as well forget dinner entirely and just serve this. No one will remember anything else anyway.

Cream Cheese Tart Dough

1. 1 cup all purpose flour
2. 1 tbs sugar
3. ½ tsp baking powder
4. ¼ tsp salt
5. 6 tbs unsaltedbutter, cut into bits
6. 3 oz cream cheese, cold

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine

Add the butter, and pulse until the pieces are about the size of peas

Add the cream cheese, and pulse again until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs

Turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap

Use the plastic to schmusch (Penelope’s, not Martha’s technique) the dough together

Flatten into a square and wrap with the plastic

Chill the dough at least 1 hour before rolling out

The Filling

1. 1 ½ cups, plus 2 tbs sugar
2. 1 vanilla bean
3. 1 ½ lbs rhubarb, trimmed and sliced into 2-inch pieces
4. 4 oz cream cheese, softened
5. grated zest of 1 lemon
6. ¼ cup sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350°

In a large skillet, stir together 1 ½ cup water, 1 ½ cup sugar, and vanilla bean

Cook over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved and the water is boiling

Add rhubarb, turn off the heat, cover and let stand until the rhubarb is softened(about 25 minutes)

Remove the rhubarb from the liquid

Spread in a single layer in a baking pan lined with several layers of paper towels

Strain 1 cup of poaching liquid into a medium skillet

Cook over high heat until the syrup has thickened, set aside to cool

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese and remaining 2 tbs of sugar and lemon zest

Using the paddle attachment, beat until smooth

Add the sour cream

Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the bottom of the cooled pastry crust

Arrange the rhubarb on top

Drizzle with the reserved cooled syrup

Chill the tart, loosely covered with plastic wrap until ready to serve

No matter how beautiful the picture of it may be next to a recipe, Penelope thinks rhubarb looks like celery with a heart condition. Besides, same as blowfish, cut it wrong and you could spend the rest of the night in the emergency room. No, when it comes to rhubarb, Penelope isn’t there yet. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be. Combined with strawberry and ginger, you mightnot even notice it.

Strawberry-Rhubarb & Ginger Pie

The Zen Master’s Pie Crust for a double crust pie

The Filling

1. 1 cup granulated sugar
2. ½ cup minced, candied ginger
3. ½ tsp cinnamon
4. pinch nutmeg
5. ¼ cup cornstarch
6. 3 cups rhubarb, cut to ½ inch lengths
7. 2 cups strawberries, hulled and halved

Preheat the oven to 425°

In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cornstarch

In a large bowl, combine the rhubarb and strawberries

Pour the sugar mixture over the fruit and coat evenly

Pile the fruit mixture into the bottom pie crust

Place the top crust on, pinch the edges together, turn under, and crimp

Make a few steam vents in the top

Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350° and bake another 35-40 minutes, until the crust is golden and the juices are bubbling

When Elaine Beller told her this story, Penelope couldn’t decide whether it was a Pie in the Sky or a Pie in the Eye moment. Being an optimist, she decided to see the pie plate as half full. “When I was going out with Alfred, a.k.a. The Most Pompous Man I Ever Dated, he insisted I bake a homemade pie for us to bring to a Very Important Party one of his clients was hosting. Baking is not my strong suit, but shopping is. So I went to my local bakery and selected a luscious looking strawberry rhubarb pie, fit for any occasion, ‘country, yet chic.’ (Alfred’s favorite adjective combo). Then came the hard part, finding a pie plate that exactly matched the sides and edging of my store-bought beauty. There was a Pyrex dish that came close, but was just a smidgen too small. A dozen stores later, I found the perfect pie plate in a deep burgundy that also complemented the rhubarb brilliantly. I brought it home, dusted it with flour, dotted it with butter, and popped it in the oven to get that just-having-been-baked in patina. After it cooled, I carefully lowered in the pie. Voila! Alfred’s Girlfriend’s Famous Strawberry Rhubarb Pie was born. I was a hit. The Pie was a hit. Alfred, however, was over. ”Seriously, if he can’t appreciate the real you, what’s left?

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Penelope’s Ultimate Pie Crust or your own favorite

1. 1 cup sugar
2. 3 tbs cornstarch
3. ¼ tsp salt
4. 1¼ rhubarb stalks, peeled and sliced into ½ inch piecesabout 4 cups
5. 2 cups strawberries, stemmed and quartered
6. 2 tbs unsalted butter, in bits

Preheat the oven to 425° and prepare the pie crust

In a large bowl stir together the sugar, cornstarch and salt

Add the rhubarb and strawberries and toss until they’re well mixed

Pile the fruit mixture into the pastry-lined pan and dot with the butter bits

Cover with the top crust; trim and flute the edges

Don’t forget to cut some vents in the top so the steam can escape. When they get together, rhubarb and strawberries are a pretty hot item.

Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350° and bake until the juices are bubbling and the crust is browned, about 30-40 minutes longer

Makes one 9 inch double crust pie