Vegan Strawberry Rhubarb Pie (It's All in The Flaky Pie Crust!)

What is not to love about both the flakiness of the pie crust here and the absolutely beautiful combo of strawberries and rhubarb lending nicely to its reddish hue. And let me tell you--yes! it is as good as it looks!

My pie straight from the oven--look at that perfectly baked soft brownish tone--and the gooey, but crisp edges! The sun was going down quickly, so I had to hurry up and get a good shot of it!

I have a strong affinity for good pie. The pie could be filled with anything. If I see a pie, hear the word pie, or even see something stuffed with a pastry merely resembling a pie crust, I want pie. As was the case yesterday morning when I checked in with my "blogs I follow" updates and came across Vegetable Matter's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie post yesterday. First of all--what a gorgeous looking pie and who wouldn't want pie after seeing that?! (I love her blog. I met her through the Foodbuzz community and am so glad I did!) Holy cow, I look over to my "label" section, and after nearly a year of blogging--I had no "Vegan Pie" label--what is wrong with me!? (Now there is a "Vegan Pie" label!)

So my sole goal in life yesterday was getting some strawberries and rhubarb. I've not grown rhubarb before. But after enjoying half a pie last night by myself--I will have to say, I may be heading to my local nursery today to pick up a plant or two of rhubarb for my own selfish reasons.


Let's be honest. What makes a great pie is not the filling per se, but what surrounds that filling. The flaky pie crust. And I will be boldly honest here and state for the record that up until about three years ago, I would have thought you had three heads if you told me you could actually make your own pie crust and it would be better than the kind you get in the refrigerator section of your local grocery store. All that measuring and flour and dish washing afterwards--no thanks. I could do without all that mess. If I wanted pie, defrost the plastic roll and viola--I had pie crust. Not any more--bring on the mess and flour!

I must have fifty pie crust recipes lying around the house today (not literally lying around) but in cookbooks, in three-ring binders and tucked throughout pockets of this or that folder. Each time I'd review a pie crust recipe, I'd carefully dissect the recipes for ingredients and ratios. Why does this one use all shortening? Why does this one say place in fridge for two hours vs. one? Why no butter in this one? What's the big deal about the "ice cold" water anyway? All these questions kept me guessing as to which one I'd go with every time I'd set out to make a pie crust from scratch.

Yesterday I went to the pro for my flaky pie crust answer: Baking with Julia written by Dorie Greenspan. This was a Christmas gift this year, along with the companion DVD series--which is being released a section at a time. The cookbook I cherished and read from cover to cover. (It really intimidated me, so I had yet to bake from it.) But, come on, I knew there had to be a great pie crust recipe stuffed in there somewhere. Sure enough. Leslie Mackie's recipe for "Flaky Pie Dough" was the answer. I loved the introduction to this recipe where, among other comments is this: "If you have one pie dough recipe in your repertoire (heaven forbid), it would have to be this one." That whole, "heaven forbid" thing killed me! I could not agree more after crossing my fingers and hoping for exactly what I wanted--a pie crust only a true pie lover could cherish.

The changes I made to create a vegan version of the flaky pie crust were the usual. I had to substitute the shortening part with Earth Balance Shortening. Shortening is a must. Do not think you can cut corners here--every southern woman worth her salt knows--a good pie crust must have shortening. However, for the butter part, I used unsalted veggie margerine--owing in large part to the unpredictability of the salt content within the Earth Balance Butter Sticks. But stuck true to the recipe you find within the link above. I mixed mine in a food processor. What they hey--I was going to have to wash dishes anyhow, why not the food processor, too? I have a bit of an aversion to mixing by hand when I can just as easily mix in the FP. But a light touch with the pulse button is key--none of that really hyper-blending can happen here--you "pulse" only! And the dough itself is VERY gooey. Very. I was shocked and nearly pitched my dough after removing it and flattening it into two discs for placing in the freezer--it completely stuck to my hands and everything. (It says to place in the fridge two hours--but I wanted to speed up the process a bit--I was going to faint soon if I did not have strawberry-rhubarb pie!)--so I wrapped my dough and in it went into the freezer for a half hour, then to the fridge for another hour.

I have never had better pie. I mean I am such an addict to this pie--I'd buy a whole Strawberry Rhubarb pie for myself at Trader Joe's (you've seen their pie displays--it's seriously a pie addicts dream)--and walk out with a pie. . . and a fork for feasting on a bit in the car before heading home. I know: it's an illness. Why the heck do you think I have a food blog for Pete's sake?!

Here is what I used as my filling for my vegan version of Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. I turned to the old Joy of Cooking for inspiration (because many "newer" cookbooks have some strawberry rhubarb "crisps" made with a crumbly topping and that just would not do). Good old stand by fellow St. Louisian, Irma Rombauer. Did you know that Julia's own copy of Joy of Cooking cookbook is in the Smithsonian! I felt I was channeling Julia all day yesterday--she would have been proud!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Filling

2 1/2 cups 1" slices of rhubarb (be sure to trim both ends, wash really well--the leaves of this plant are poisonous!)
2 1/2 cups sliced strawberries
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 424. Get a  9" pie dish ready--just have it out. (You should have already made your pie dough!) Place all filling ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Toss the ingredients a few times to coat. Allow to sit for about fifteen minutes, then toss again. Meanwhile, remove one of your pie doughs from the fridge and place a roll of plastic wrap on top of it and using a rolling pin, roll out to the circular size of your pie dish--a little larger would be best. Remove the plastic wrap from the top, carefully place the pie dough into the pie dish and press into dish--using your fingers to just make sure the dough reaches the top of the dish. Next, pour your filling into the pie dough. Get your second dough out and roll in the same fashion, then place on top of the filling. Pinch the edges--it doesn't have to be perfect, just pinch it up the best you can. (I found the dough to still be so wet, it was hard to get a "nice" pinch--but work with it.) Next, I cut about six slits in the top of the dough. Then I sprinkled the top with the remaining sugar. I then placed the pie on top of a cookie sheet lined with foil. (Because this will spill over--be careful, too!). Place the pie in the oven and bake at 425 for 30 minutes. Then, turn down the heat to 350 and bake for about another 30 minutes. Check to make sure the top of the pie crust is beginning to brown--that is a must for any pie crust to look its best--a little brown on top is important! Remove from oven and allow to cool about two hours--if you can! Enjoy!