As many of you know, spring and summer are ideal times for finding rhubarb. Rhubarb is a beautiful, celery-like stalky thing that has a wonderfully tart flavor and bright red color.
Rhubarb is commonly found in desserts such as strawberry rhubarb pie, rhubarb jam, and rhubarb tarts but this “pie plant” goes beyond the plate. In fact, it was originally used for many medicinal reasons.
If you are looking for a good way to “self medicate” with some rhubarb, try this personal sized strawberry rhubarb crostata. It is extremely simple.
- Chop up some fruit, mix with sugar and spice.
- Make a pie crust.
- Fill crust with fruit, and bake.
- Enjoy.
Very pie-like with out the need for massive amounts of filling, multiple people to share with, and a fork. What could be better?
…Maybe a dollop of stawberry whipped cream on top?
Ingredients
- Everything necessary for a pie crust. Which isn’t very much!
- 1 cup quartered strawberries
- 1 1/2 cups thinnly sliced rhubarb
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp milk (optional)
To Make the Crostata
- Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF, and line a cookie sheet.
- Roll out the pie crust to 9-10 inches in diameter, and place on the cookie sheet.
- Combine the chopped strawberries and rhubarb.
- In a separate small bowl combine the sugar, flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
- Toss the fruit in the sugar mixture, and allow to sit for 10 minutes while the oven preheats.
- Once the fruit is slightly macerated, pile into the middle of the rolled out crust, leaving about 1 1/2 inches around the border of the crust. Then carefully (try not to rip the crust) fold the edges up around the pile of fruit.
- If you want, brush the milk over the folded edges of the crust. Then bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the fruit is bubbly.
- Allow to set for about 10 minutes before consumption. Once you are ready to enjoy the crostata, you can either top with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of strawberry whipped cream*.
*To make the strawberry whipped cream: I made about 2 cups of softly whipped cream, and then stirred in 1/4 cup – 1/3 cup homemade strawberry sauce.
