Welcome to New England...a land of stately lighthouses and craggy coastlines; of white church steeples and breathtaking fall leaves; of friendly country stores and romantic old inns; of winding mountain lanes and thriving cities. And from this glorious setting, over 500 recipes have been collected to capture the marvelous cuisine of the New England states of Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.
A Vermont cookbook would be incomplete without a rule for rhubarb pie. The showing of rhubarb is one of the first true signs of spring. While dirt roads are still making automobiles wallow in mud, and neither daffodil nor apple blossoms have yet shown their beauty, the rhubarb may be spotted in the garden patch. For pie or any other rhubarb concoction, pick the rhubarb when the first salks come up. By the time its ivory plumes of flowers appear, it will be tough and stringy. Young "strawberry rhubarb" makes the best pie. From: Mrs. Appleyard's Family Recipe.
Servings: 8-10
For a 9-inch pie, use
3 cups rhubarb
Pastry for a double crust
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/8 teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg
1 egg, well beaten
2 tablespoons butter cut into 12 bits
Use the youngest, tenderest "strawberry rhubarb"--the kind that needs no peeling. Discard leaves and lower ends of stalks and cut into1/2-inch pieces.
Line a 9-inch pie tin with pastry. Leave a good margin of pastry to be turned up over the top crust and crimped with a fork so that no juice will run out. I dislike any drippings in the oven, because I resent spending time cleaning it, so I always place a cookie sheet under fruit pies just in case they drip. In my experience, they have never failed to do so.
Sift flour, sugar, and spice together. Scatter 1/4 cup of this mixture over the lower crust. Add half of the rhubarb, half of the remaining sugar mixture, then the rest of the rhubarb and the last of the sugar and spice. Heap the rhubarb slightly toward the center of the pie; it will sink while baking.
Pour the beaten egg over the pie and dot it with bits of butter. Set the top crust in place and gash it well so that steam can escape. Bake at 450 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and continue baking until the fruit is tender and the crust is brown and puffed--about 40 minutes longer. If it browns too quickly, cover it with a tent of aluminum foil, but remove the tent during the last 10 minutes of baking. Enjoy the coming of spring!
