I don’t have a lot of experience with rhubarb. I’ve never grown it and I’ve never cooked with it. Again, no excuses. I think I’ve always associated rhubarb with 40s-50s style painted aprons with rickrack and big farm style kitchen tables set in the middle of a giant square kitchen with white metal cabinets. So it’s not surprising that once again the sweet 40s-50s farm style of The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen seduced me.
I think I was afraid that t I wouldn’t trust the amount of sugar needed to balance the sourness of the rhubarb, but with Harry’s Berries in my court I knew I didn’t have to worry. However, my anxiety about the rhubarb played out in buying it both at the farmers market (very young, thin and green) and at the supermarket (huge, thick and older). The bigger stalks were actually much more tender and I ended up combining both in the pie.
I made the top crust look like pink polka dots by poking out some holes with a small biscuit cutter. Pretty yummy I must say especially with the super short pie dough made with Plugra.