I found a recipe for an all rhubarb pie in my Foodbuzz feed this week. It comes to us from the Foy Update blog. I have never made a 100% rhubarb pie before and the one time I have used it in pie I cut it with strawberry. Check it out at http://www.foodbuzz.com/blogs/2258418-rhubarb-pie-recipe. Family recipes (from the post if you didn't read it) are real gems because they have likely been tried so many times and if ever there was a fix needed it has surely been done. These recipes work! I am going to have to seek out some local rhubarb and make a tasty pie that will of course have the homemade crust everyone is always fighting over...
I was thinking about what to pair the pie with. Foy mentions coffee, which definitely work. The strong flavors in the coffee will match well with a pie that has some characters as well. In a similar vein I am going to recommend hard cider and the still (no bubbles) type specifically. I make one like this with some residual sweetness that should match well with both the sweet and sour from this pie. The apple flavor will settle in nicely with the rhubarb as well. The most recent batches of cider were made from several styles of yeast and the Sweet Mead yeast in particular imparted a nice nutty background to the beverage. I think that would work nicely here as well.
Good cider might be hard to find in many places and there are several suggestions I have for that. First off, if do you live near an apple growing region there will most definitely be cider makers around. Seek them out and try their products. I live in NH and our best cider makers are the folks at Farnum Hill Ciders which you can check out at http://www.povertylaneorchards.com/.
If you have to go to the grocery store look for some of the ciders imported from Europe as I believe their flavors are cleaner and less adulterated. Cider Jack and the generic styles from Woodchuck are not what I am recommending, they are too far from the apple through the large volume commercial process. Woodchuck does have pear and green apple styles that are worth a try.
Cheers!
--Jason
I love hard cider...and I can't wait to hear about this rhubarb pie. I love making pies, but I've never attempted an all rhubarb pie before either. Thanks for sharing!
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