Rhubarb custard pie, lamb chops and paella!
Twenty years ago I drove across America with a rolling pin attached to the grill of an old Volvo named Betty looking for people who still made pie from scratch. I didn't know where I was going, trusting that "locals," like a horse trainer in Kentucky, a cable car operator in San Francisco, and a bear trapper in Montana, would lead me to the best local pie.
Most days, serendipity was my compass. Such was the case in tiny Munith, Michigan, where I came across a woman named Juanita as she was trying to coax her cat down from the high branches of a walnut tree. I offered to help, then admired her rhubarb plants (also known as pie plants) and before I knew it, I was sitting in her cheery kitchen watching her make a rhubarb custard pie from scratch and listening to her life story, as bittersweet as the filling. Juanita told me she bakes a pie every week for someone in need. "You have to give more than you in this life," she said as she put her pie in the oven."You'll be rewarded in more ways than you realize."
Ever year around this time, when the Orchards of Concklin bring their thick stringy rhubarb stalks to market, I think about Juanita. I used to make her pie often, when the girls were little, but haven't in years.
Imagine my surprise when one of them asked if she could have a couple of friends over this week to bake "that rhubarb pie from your book." She added strawberries, just because, and a lattice crust.
Here's the original recipe:
C R U S T
1 unbaked pie shell (surely you have a
favorite method, but store bought works, too)
F I L L I N G
3 cups fresh rhubarb stalks cut in cubes
(the size of your thumb, says Juanita)
** 1 1/2 cups of sugar **
** 2 tablespoons cornstarch **
** 3 eggs (use two yolks and 1 whole egg
and save 2 egg whites in case you want
to make an optional meringue topping)**
** 1 cup milk **
** 1/2 tsp nutmeg **
Line pie with pastry. Fill with rhubarb. in your favorite bowl, mix together sugar, cornstarch, eggs and milk. Pour mixture over the rhubarb and sprinkle the whole with nutmeg. Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour or until set.
Of course what made the pie so special was the story that came with it. Isn't that always the case? This weekend, pick up some rhubarb and write your own pie story.
Other things to look out for at the market this weekend? No Place Like Home is returning with their giant simmering paella pan so you can enjoy lunch, Spanish style, at the market.
Forward Roots Kimchi is back on the plaza after a short hiatus and so is Wil-Hi Farm. It's always such a treat to see Heidi and Chuck pull up with their coolers full of lamb and colorful skeins of wool from their Rambouillet sheep.
Charlotte's Home Kitchen is bringing her new peach cake laced with thyme, sumac and a rosy raspberry glaze. It's sweetened with maple syrup and it's gluten and dairy free. And it's pretty as a picture, too, as are all of her cakes.
Folks from Andrea Stewart Cousins' office will be distributing free home Covid tests at the market and make sure to look out for the P-CoC table, promoting their second annual food-truck fundraiser on June 26th.
This was supposed to be our last "winter" market before we kick off our weekly summer season but we didn't want to leave you in the lurch on Memorial Day weekend. So we will be hosting an extra smaller market on Sat. May 28th. Stay tuned for details.
It will be t-shirt weather for sure this weekend. Stop by the market tent and pick up some market tees! And if you have any old clothes or textiles you'd like to discard, bring them to the Green Tree Recycling Bin.
This week, we are thrilled to bring music back to the market with none other than the delightfully raucous Richard Cortez Jazz Band. Please join us in congratulating Milton (of our house band by the same name) and his lovely partner, Ereni, who are getting hitched this Saturday. We couldn't be happier for them. They go together like, well strawberry & rhubarb.
See you at the market!