Until this year I hadn't found a good way of preserving strawberries and rhubarb. I've tried freezing the fruit separately, but both end up watery once defrosted. I've been leery of canning the pie filling because the recipes I find are so different from my tried and true pie filling. Plus, in the pictures I've seen of canned pie filling the fruit is always a little off color.
This year I stumbled across this blog on pinterest. The author claimed that creating the pie filling and then freezing it fully prepared in a ziploc bag would work. I was a bit skeptical, but decided to try it.
Oh my, delicious!
I froze two pie fillings. I then waited a week before defrosting and baking. The pies were amazing. The first one turned out a little watery so with the second I simply drained off a little of the excess liquid. It set up so well and was incredibly good. Today I made five more batches to save for winter. I can't wait to pull them out of the freezer and enjoy the taste of fresh summer fruit in the dead of winter.
Here's how:
Step 1: Harvest your rhubarb and your strawberries.
(You really don't want to wait too long to get to your rhubarb. If it has holes in the insides of the stalks, you've waited too long. It can end up with a "woody" taste if you wait too long.)
Step 2: Chop your berries and rhubarb into small pieces. About 3 cups of each.
Step 3: Add in the sugar and flour. Allow the ingredients to maserate (mix) for about 20 minutes. You will no longer notice the sugar and flour as you stir, but instead will see a bit of syrup forming around the fruit.
Step 4: Place the mixture in a freezer bag. I highly recommend getting a vacuum sealer like this one. Ziplocs work but will allow freezer burn after an extended time in the freezer.
Step 5: Once ready to make a pie, simply defrost your bag, remove a little bit of the excess liquid, make a pie crust and bake.
(For best results, allow your pie to set overnight. The filling will thicken and you'll have a perfect pie in the morning.)
ENJOY!
Here's my recipe for AWESOME STRAWBERRY RHUBARB PIE:
3C strawberries, cut
3C rhubarb, cut
2/3 C flour
2 C sugar
Mix the ingredients in a large bowl. Pour into prepared crust.
Top and Bottom Pie Crust:
2 C flour
1 stick + 2 T butter (not margarine!)
1 t salt
6 T very cold water
Mix all with a pastry cutter or by hand. Divide in half and turn out onto a floured surface. Roll out a bottom and top crust. Place bottom crust in the pie pan, fill with pie filling, cover with top crust. Turn excess crust under around all the edges to seal the pie. Flute with a fork or spoon. Poke a few holes in the top of the pie.
(It's always a good idea to bake a pie on top of a cookie sheet in case any filling oozes out.)
Bake at 425 degrees for 55 minutes.
I, too love Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie. I made 7 freezer bags of a similar recipe last summer. I wasn't in love with THAT recipe...it was good but had a few issues. I also had to drain some juice off because it did not set up right and add two TBL cornstarch before baking. AND it was too much filling for a regular pie pan. I compared YOUR recipe with the one I used last year and it YOURS has one cup less of combined fruit and a half cup more of sugar. I am going to TRY your recipe this year it sounds like just the right amount of tweeking. Could you add a pic of the pie with a piece cut from it, so we can see the consistency. Thanks, for the recipe. I will let you know how mine turns out. I am excited to try it.
ReplyDeleteHi Marce! I'm not sure if I've got a picture of the finished pie cut, I'll definitely add one next time i make a pie. Good idea!
DeleteI do still drain a bit of the juice out of the bag before adding it to the pie shell. I think you'd have to do this with any frozen recipe since frozen fruit tends to be watery once defrosted. I also allow my pie to sit overnight before eating it. That lets the filling gel. Strawberry rhubarb pie needs time to set up even when made with fresh ingredients.
I hope your pie turns out wonderfully well!