May 23, 2022 rhubarb rubbish pie 420 words

Normally, I am a good pie maker. I look forward to the fresh crops , starting with rhubarb. For those of my readers not from the upper portion of North America, rhubarb is a perennial with large leaves and dark red stems. You harvest the leaf stems by gently pulling the large outside leaf stems from the main plant. The green leaves are discsrded leaving the red stems. They are cut into half inch pieces. The pieces are mixed with a dash of lemon juice, cinnamon, sugar and a small amount of flour. A easy pie to make except this year.

Last weekend, I broke two bones in my left wrist. I gave no thought to the two hand process of pie making. Assembling my ingredients to make my pie.

I asked my husband, John to gather the rhubarb stems and discard the leaves. I cut the stems on a cutting board with a towel to hold the stem pieces in place. The dry ingredienents into a large bowl, the filling was ready for the crust.

How was I going to roll and form the crust? I made a soft oil pastry mixing with my good hand until I had a ball of soft pastry. I tried several times to use the rolling pin to roll out the dough between pieces of waxed paper. The crust was too large to roll and lift the into the pan. I came up with the idea of rolling smaller balls that I could manipulate easier. I formed the crust with my fimgers, like Playdoh. I left the pie open faced. It was odd looking , it looked like a pile of rubish ,but tasted good.

By the end of the hour I had a pie and a mess to clean up. My husband wondered why I didn’t ask for help. I replied that is hard to be a stubborn Turnbull.

Next time, I will make pie making a couple activity.

*****

Grandma Turnbull’s Rhubarb pie recipe.

3/4 cups Sugar

1/4 cup FLour

1 tsp Lemon Juice

3 cups of Rhubarb pieces

1 tbs butter

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix the dry ingredients

Put half the rubarb in a crust of your choice and cover with half the dry mixture

Put the rest of the rhubarb in and cover with the rest of the dry ingredients

Sprinkle with lemon juice and pat with the butter

Bake at 350 for 45 to 50 min.

Remove when it bubbles.

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