Strawberry Pie and Community Gatherings

Our Ashland Gift Circle has a tradition of surprising people with amazing organic desserts. The evening before meeting there was a request for help washing windows, and the urge to make strawberry pie overtook me. Berries were gathered from the Growers Market and by the time I went to bed a glorious pie was cooling in the refrigerator.

The next day on Saturday, our crew of window washers celebrated a task well done with this delicious pie. I was so happy, I decided to make an even grander one, a Version #2 Strawberry Pie for our Sunday Community Dinner. What was I thinking?

This second pie had too many textures and, sadly, it did not get many points from me. But others claimed it was very nice. (Liars.)

Jeff blurted out, “It tastes better than it looks.”

My God, I thought, its appearance was its best feature.

There are three morals to this story…

1. Stick to Version #1 (Fresh Strawberry Pie) , and
2. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to substitute cream cheese with the goat cheese … a little too “goatey”, and
3. Every effort can’t be a crackerjack!

The recipe for Fresh Strawberry Pie from Mom follows below. Enjoy!

Best Fresh Strawberry Pie

VERSION # 1:

Here, my dears, is the strawberry pie, handed down to me from my dear mum.

1. Bake a 9 in. pie flakey crust, glaze with egg yolk. Let cool. This recipe is only as good as the berries you start with (organic, farmers market … fresh fresh fresh)
2. 6 c. strawberries (rinse, dry and hull; cut any very large ones in half). Measure 4 c. and set aside. Mash the remaining berries.
3. Whisk together in a medium saucepan: 3/4 to 1 c. sugar (or less); 1/4 c. cornstarch (Rumford now has non genetically engineered cornstarch); 1/8 t. salt. Whisk in 1/2 c. water.
4. Stir in the pureed berries along with 2 T. strained fresh lemon juice and 2 T. butter, cut into pieces. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium high heat, stirring constantly and cook for 1 minute. Pour 1/2 of berries into the crust and spoon 1/2 of the hot berry mixture over them, and gently shake the pan to coat the berries evenly. Cover with the remaining berries, spoon the remaining hot berry mixture over them, and shake gently as before.
5. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours and it will set. Best eaten the day it is made! Whipped cream goes nicely with this.
6. Eat and Delight! This also goes well with a just-up morning sun, afternoon picnic light, evening sunsets or starry nights and candlelight.

 Re-posted with permission from We Need Each Other: Building Gift Community