Is there any one thing that says "Summer Time" to you?
For some it might be the 4th of July and all of the celebrations and parties it brings with it. For others it's taking the shrink wrap off the boat, the cover off of the grill and breaking out the beer and brats, it could even be seeing their green grocer unload crates of fresh local corn on the cob - still tightly wrapped in it's green husks, and for some it might be the arrival of their annual allergies.
For me there is nothing in the world that says summer time like strawberries. Fresh, ripe, ruby red berries that are bursting with sweetness and flavor. The smell alone of a strawberry brings back memories of sitting along the shore in Maine, with close friends and family while the embers of a pit fire close by burn red, orange, and white, and the smells of a lobster bake with earthy potatoes and bright yellow, crisp juicy ears of corn waft by on tendrils of smoke. Afterward we all settle around the fire and dip into gorgeous bowls of fresh farmer's market strawberries with a dollop of whipped cream on top.
I eat strawberries all year long. If I can't get them fresh, then I load my morning smoothies up with frozen strawberries, a little yogurt and some skim milk or orange juice and call it good!
Over the 4th of July weekend I decided to try my hand at making a fresh strawberry pie...something I had never undertaken before. I scoured my lonely few cookbooks for a recipe and couldn't find anything I liked, so I went out and surfed the web and found one that looked relatively easy.
I'll preface this by saying that I suck when it comes to making pie crusts so I got a couple of frozen ones and used them. I just can not, for the life of me, get a pie crust that I make to turn out halfway decent or anything resembling edible. They are either so dry that they end up being a choking hazard, or so mushy that again, they're a choking hazard. Pie crusts elude me.
The recipe is very easy and takes almost no time to prepare. Once prepared, all you have to do is pop it in the ice box to chill for a few hours and voila! You have one of the best strawberry pies ever! And I'm not saying this to be vain...I sent the extra one (this recipe makes two) to work with Gareth and they proclaimed it award worthy!
So without further ado, how about we get on with the photos...because what good is a post about an amazing pie without some pictures?
Go out and get yourself some beautiful strawberries, then wash and hull them. Oh, believe me, it was hard to stop at just washing and hulling. I wanted to eat every single berry!
Gather your ingredients. Two pre-baked 9 inch pie shells. Sugar (You don't have to use super-fine sugar, I've just gotten in the habit of using it lately. Regular granulated sugar is fine), corn starch, 3oz package of strawberry Jell-O, and water.
This is the only part of the process that takes some time and attention. Stirring, oh-the-constant-stirring of the sugar, cornstarch and water. You need to stand right there and watch over it, stirring it constantly until boiling and until it reaches a syrupy consistency.
Add your Jello-O...Oh my gosh! It smells so good!
Remove from heat and stir in Jell-O completely. Let cool for a few minutes.
I didn't pre-load my pie shells with the berries because I didn't want the shells to become soggy. Now's the part where if you have some small people just hanging around your house (or in my case, standing directly behind me, begging me for strawberries every 32 seconds!), now would be a good time to take advantage of the free labor they afford you....
...but keep an eye on those little hands! Before you know it, they're absconding with those gorgeous strawberries! If you can keep your free child laborer on task, they tend to do a fantastic job of arranging the berries in the crust!
The recipe says that it makes two pies. I had berries left over, but not enough for two pies. So I grabbed some frozen raspberries out of the freezer and got creative with the second pie.
Top your pies with equal amounts of the gelatin-cornstarch-sugar and water mixture.
Pop those gorgeous pies in the ice-box (fridge for you non-New Englanders!) to chill for a few hours...and voila! You have gorgeously set pie.
I got a little over-excited by the smell of this scrumptious pie and as I was placing the first piece of pie on the plate it sort of didn't quite make it to the plate.
Ahhhhh! This is much better. Place a scoop of vanilla ice cream next to your pie and you have a little piece of Heaven right there on your plate!
My only problem with this pie is that I think it's a wee bit too sweet. However, since dropping 4-6 Coca Cola a-day habit, a lot of things taste overly sweet to me. That said, I still think the sugar in this recipe could be cut out almost completely using something like Splenda and a sugar-free gelatin. I'm going to try doing that the next time around and maybe playing with different flavored Jell-O as well. You could probably use peaches, or apricots, cherries and other flavored Jello-O's as well, using this same exact recipe.
Despite me thinking it was a bit too sweet, Gareth thought it was one of the best pies he'd ever eaten and Gaby heartily agreed with her daddy! Heck, maybe if we put together a whole bunch of these pies we could take them to Congress and the Senate and tell them to shut up and eat them...they'd be so busy enjoying the awesomeness that is this pie that they wouldn't have time to argue with one another...talk about an act worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize...no, make that Nobel Peace Pies!
