Trisha Margeson's Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

Filling:

• 1¼ cup sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• If freezing pie for later: 6 Tbl all-purpose flour
• If not freezing pie: ¼ cup minute tapioca
• 2 cups frozen rhubarb
• 2 cups frozen strawberries (kept frozen)
• 2 Tbs of butter cut into 8 cubes
• 1 egg white
• sugar for sprinkling on the top of the pie

Preheat oven to 425°

In a bowl that will hold all the ingredients, defrost rhubarb sprinkled with a pinch of salt in microwave for 1 minute.

Measure 2 cups of frozen strawberries, choosing the small ones first, then cutting the big ones in half until you have two cups. Mix the strawberries into the rhubarb.

Mix the flour (or tapioca) and sugar, and pour this mixture into the strawberry and rhubarb, stirring to combine. Microwave the combined ingredients for 3 minutes on high.

If using home-made pie crust (see Home-Made Pie Crust):

Create the top pie crust, repeating the same dough and rolling instructions used for the bottom crust.

Retrieve the pie plate with bottom crust, remove the plastic, pour in the rhubarb strawberry mix, and dot with butter.

Remove the top piece of plastic from the top crust. From the narrow end, roll under the extra plastic so you can slide your fingers under the dough while your thumbs are gently holding the top. Pick it up and center it, laying it carefully on top of the filled pie.

Take off the plastic and cut around the pie plate, making the top and bottom crust the same size, leaving enough room to roll the overhang under itself so you have a rolled cylinder that rests on the rim of the pie plate. By rolling the dough, you create a higher edge and a seal which gives more to work with when you're crimping the edge of the pie.

If using store-bought rolled pie crust:

Line a 9" glass or metal regular (not deep-dish) pie plate with a bottom crust. Pour in the rhubarb strawberry mix, dot with butter, and cover with the top crust.

Crimping the pie crust:

Work with one hand on the inside of the perimeter of the pie crust and one hand on the outside, using the thumb or index finger of your inside hand to push the dough between the thumb and index finger of your outside hand to form a "U" or "V" shape. Continue the same all around the pie plate.

If you notice as you're crimping that you didn't trim things up quite perfectly and your crust is a little sparse in one spot, take a bit of your trimmed scrap, wet it with a drop or two of water, and attach it to the sparse area by pressing it firmly into place. Then resume crimping.

Baking the pie:

With a pastry brush, lightly brush the top of the pie with egg white, being careful not to make any part wet. Use just enough egg white to help the sugar you sprinkle on the top stick.

Cut a "+" in the center and at least 4 slits between the edge and the "+" in the middle. Cover the edge with foil strip. Bake 20 minutes at 425° on the lowest rack of the oven. Then turn oven down to 375° and bake for another 35 to 50 minutes. At 25 minutes, remove the foil and look for slow bubbling in the middle of the pie. If it's taking longer than expected for the slow bubble and the pie is browning too fast, cut a circle of heavy duty aluminum foil and rest it on top of the pie.