Rhubarb and Apple Pie | The First Four Years
There was a pieplant in the garden; she must make a couple of pies. The morning flew too quickly, but when the men came in at noon from the thresher, dinner was on the table.
The First Four Years
Laura Ingalls Wilder
I’m making an assumption that most people have read the Little House on the Prairie series as a child and spent a numerous hours wishing they lived on a farm on a prairie. Or maybe just me. I did a reread of these books recently and was surprised to realise how much I still enjoyed them. Reading them at an older age however does mean that you become a little more aware of the basically terrible racist overtones (overtones is putting it a bit mildly) and the romanticism of colonialism.
That being said, I still enjoy them. I think the nostalgia of rereading something from my youth overpowered any other thoughts. My mum’s workplace when I was quite young, was attached to the town’s library and I used to sit in it every week reading through any book I could get my hands on. I powered through the library’s entire collection of The Babysitter’s Club (and the subsequent spin off Little Sister books), Deltora Quest, Tamora Pierce’s collection, and of course - the entirety of Laura Ingall Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie series.
The mention of pieplant pie in The First Four Years caught my eye on my recent reread. A bit of a google later revealed that pieplant is rhubarb. A vegetable named pieplant because it used to primarily be used within pies. I created my recipe with the addition of apples - growing up a rhubarb and apple pie was a regular appearance after dinner most nights. With the rhubarb picked straight from our garden and the apples from a tree my dad had happen-chanced upon during the day. This recipe is based off that one I spent so many nights eating as a child, the rhubarb even is straight from my parents garden.
Rhubarb and Apple Pie
Ingredients
Pastry
450g plain flour
2 tbsp golden caster sugar
200g cold butter
150ml ice cold water
Pinch of salt
Filling
450g rhubarb, cut up
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced
1 tbsp golden caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
One orange. juiced and zested
+ milk to glaze, and extra sugar
Pastry
Combine the flour, salt, and caster sugar into a large bowl and stir to combine.
Break the butter into small pieces and rub it into the flour mixture until it resembles wet sand.
Make a well in the middle and pour in the water and mix until it forms into a ball with no lumps. Wrap in cling wrap and put into the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes before using.
Filling
Place the rhubarb, apple, orange juice and zest, caster sugar and vanilla into a saucepan. Cook for around 20 - 30 minutes, until the rhubarb has softened and turned into a puree and the apple has softened also. Put to the side to chill.
Once you’re ready to assemble the pies preheat the oven to 200C.
Remove the dough from the fridge. On a lightly floured surface roll the dough out until it is about 2-3 cms thick. If you’re making one big pie, place the rolled out dough into a lightly greased pie tin. If you’re doing small hand pies, use something to cut the circles out, placing half onto a baking paper lined baking tray. Leave the other to use as lids.
Spoon your rhubarb and apple filling into the middle of the pastry circles (or pastry lined pie dish), brushing the edges with water and topping them with the pastry circles that had been set to the side.'
Use a fork to seal the edges and and brush with the extra milk as a glaze, sprinkling a little sugar on top.
Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until the pies are a golden brown. Enjoy!
