Strawberry Pie

How great is vacation? How great is the idea of having an entire afternoon dedicated to tracking down shrimp in a 200-year-old Spanish-moss draped Lowcountry town on the Edisto River? Only to discover that the dock is closed for business on Mondays so could you come back tomorrow? The thing is, we can! (What else is there to do?) And Monday’s pursuit of shrimp ended up detouring left, down a dirt road, around the rickety fence, following hand-written U-Pick signs to 10 acres and seemingly millions of strawberry bushes begging to be harvested. So what was going to be shrimp and grits or easy shrimp tacos with some lime and jalapeno ended up here, at strawberry pie. And I can’t say that anyone complained.

Jackpot! Would you look at this place. An entire farm to ourselves.

Now that’s a strawberry.

How red are these? How freaking long was winter?

The pie was Phoebe’s idea and she was extremely proud. My only regret is not showing you the finished product sliced open with fresh whipped cream on top. We brought it to friend’s house and it was devoured too quickly to snap a photo.

Spring Strawberry Pie

About 2 cups strawberries, washed and de-stemmed, enough to create a nice round mound in the middle of a 9-inch pie dish
2 teaspoons cornstarch (could use flour)
2 teaspoons sugar, plus extra for sprinkling crust
juice from 1/2 juicy lemon
2 9-inch crusts, storebought or one ball pate brisee
1 egg

Preheat oven to 425°F. In a large bowl, mix together strawberries, cornstarch, sugar, and lemon juice until there is not a hint of dustiness left in flour. Pour into prepared pie crust bottom. Cover with pie crust top.

In a small bowl, whisk one egg. Using a pastry brush, paint the top of the crust with the egg wash. Cut a few slits in the top so strawberries can bubble through. (Extra credit for sand-dollar design.) Sprinkle with a little sugar if desired.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until crust is golden and strawberries are bubbling through slits. (Start checking at 30 minutes.) Sorry for the wide range in baking time — we went for a quick bike ride when it was in the oven and I lost track of how long it was in there. Please don’t mistake this for an extreme act of hubris — it’s in fact the opposite. I am not a baker and pies are one of the few forgiving baked goods I can make without screwing up.

Serve with freshly whipped cream.

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20 Comments

jess

There is nothing more spectacular than a fresh-picked strawberry. These photos are almost enough to lure me to move the family to the south! We have to wait until late June for U-Pick Strawberries in Minnesota.

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Emilee

Sounds amazing! I have some left over strawberries in my fridge right now, this recipe could put them to good use!

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Holly

Love it! We lived in Charleston from 2004 to 2007, and I’ll never forget driving past a u-pick field of strawberries en route to our new house for the first time — it was right around this time of year, and I remember thinking life didn’t get much better than that! I also miss the grown-right-down-the-street peaches. If you’re still there on Saturday, make sure to hit up the Farmer’s Market downtown in Marion Square — best crepe stand known to man!

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Victoria

This looks simply divine! I love making pies. However, it’s so difficult to perfect crust. It looks like you just used a premade one here. Impressive! Looks so fun and best wishes finding your shrimp!

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mek

I’m in North Dakota. It is snowing (not sticking, but still…). That strawberry is so beautiful, perfect, and springy that I nearly burst into tears.

Someone is going to the grocery store today.

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Mostly Flummoxed

I love the two colors of strawberries…Oh I wish I was driving to Charleston right now so I could stop and pick some of these lovelies!
Must make that pie! Thanks for another meal (dessert, whatever.) idea!

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Sal

Are you on Edisto island? i used to go every year when living in new york… love that place.

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Gretchen

Everything about this post makes me happy — gorgeous, fresh strawberries; delicious sanddollar-crust pie; and glorious SUN in every photo!

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Lisa Clarke

Oh, I am so ready for this kind of weather to hit New Jersey! This whole post has made me even more eager for spring and for strawberry season to start 🙂

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Elizabeth

Dude. No. Believe me, every time I visit your site I’m green with envy that your children are involved in cooking of any sort, but somewhere, my grandmother is twitching horribly at the thought of a baked strawberry pie. Voila the Grandma Grace strawberry pie: wash and hull 3 baskets of berries. Arrange the best ones, tips up, on the bottom of a baked pie shell. Mix 1/2c to 1c sugar (depending on sweetness of berries) and 2 or 3T cornstarch in a medium-sized stockpot. Mash that with the rest of the berries (particularly any overripe ones). Cook for 1-3 minutes over low-ish heat or until the mixture bubbles, then turns from opaque to clear-ish. Blob it all over the berries in the pieshell. Refrigerate for a couple of hours. Whipped cream is a must.

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Trang O.

Cannot wait to make a strawberry pie! Strawberry-Rhubarb is a favorite here (with ingredients from our backyard!).
PS: Your newsletter sent me. Do I win the apron?

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Michelle

I just made this pie and it tastes amazing. The only thing, the pie came too liquid-y for the bottom crust to cook properly. Is there a way to minimize the liquid?

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