This is one of the finest tasting strawberry pies, often referred to as “fresh” strawberry pie. The reason is that half strawberries used in the filling are left just trimmed and uncooked. They’re folded into a kind of strawberry jam, a thickened mixture of pureed strawberries, sugar, cornstarch and water that’s boiled until thickened and clear.
Fresh Strawberry Pie
I came across the recipe some years ago in one of my favorite cookbooks, “Butter Beans to Blackberries” by Ronni Lundy who often writes about Appalachian cookery, southern comfort food at its best.
Other versions of this can be found such as similar concepts of cooked and uncooked strawberries that are straddled over cream cheese spread in a flaky pie crust. I prefer the plainer version, though the next time I make this I’m considering covering the base of the cooked pastry case with pastry cream that is topped with the strawberry mixture.
The success of this pie depends on the quality of the strawberries. These are in great supply now at farmers’ markets and there’s absolutely no reason to use those fat, travel weary huge berries from California that the stores still carry alongside our local berries.
My favorite growers include Alewive’s Brook Farm in Cape Elizabeth, whose sparkle berries are now in short supply. Another local favorite include the berries from Jordan’s Farm in Cape Elizabeth, who just began picking their stash of sweet, deep-red berries. I also like Fairwinds Farm’s berries that are grown along the banks of the Kennebec River in Bowdoinham. Pineland Farms berries are in high supply now, too.
Farmers’ market strawberries’ prices var from $5.50 to $8,.00 depending on grower and market
A note on pre-baking the pastry case that’s called for in the following recipe. Once prepared put the pastry case into the freezer for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer. This will help prevent the pie from shrinking as you blind-bake the pastry case. Cover the pie well with either parchment or aluminum foil and fill it to the brim with sugar to weigh it down. You can use this sugar repeatedly (store in a container to keep in the cupboard). Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes; carefully remove the foil or parchment liner and bake until the dough is nicely browned, about another 15 minutes, watching carefully that you don’t let it get too brown. Cool to room temperature before filling it with the pie mixture.
Ingredients
- 9-inch pre-baked pie shell
- 1 quart local strawberries, trimmed
- 1 cups plus 4 tablespoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- Pinch kosher or sea salt
- 1 cup water
- Heavy cream for whipping
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Let the pre-baked pie crust cool completely before filling.
- Fill the pastry case with enough berries, point-end up, to completely cover the pastry case. Set aside while you make the sauce.
- Take the remaining berries, trimmed and cut in half and put in a Cuisinart and puree until roughly smooth (it’s ok to have a few berry chunks). You should have at least 1 cup of berry puree.
- In a separate bowl whisk together 1 cup of the sugar and cornstarch. Add the pureed berries to a heavy bottomed sauce pan and stir in the sugar mixture. Add the water to the workbowl of the food processor, swirling it around to get the juice left on the side of the bowl. Add this to the berry mixture in the pot, mixing well. Stirring constantly over medium heat bring the mixture to the boil and allow to simmer briskly for about 20 seconds. The mixture should be very thick.
- Pour this over the berries. Let stand until the filling is a room temperature. Cover the pie and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
- To serve, add a hefty dollop of whipped cream flavored with vanilla extract and the remaining 4 tablespoons sugar. Top each serving with the whipped cream.
