The other dish that reminds my father and I of my mama and her cooking is rhubarb custard pie.
When I was growing up in Wisconsin, we grew rhubarb in a big patch behind the garage, in the shade. I remember playing with my friends from the neighborhood and daring each other to see who could eat the most rhubarb raw. If you’ve never tasted raw rhubarb before I can tell you it’s at least as tart as a lemon with a texture resembling that of a raw potato. In other words, not good… not at all! But we were kids and I guess it was something to do to pass the time during those hot summer days.
Each summer we had lots and lots of rhubarb and Mom’s favorite way to use it up was by making this pie. It’s still one of my favorites. Unfortunately, I never got Mama’s recipe written down but my friend Kathy shared this one with me and I give it a big seal of approval as being really close to what Mama used to make.
Rhubarb Custard Pie
One recipe pie crust
4 cups chopped rhubarb
3 eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
¼ cup flour
¼ t. nutmeg
½ t. vanilla extract
Dash salt
Prepare pie crust and place it into pie pan. Gently place the chopped rhubarb into the crust. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs. Add remaining ingredients and pour over rhubarb in pie shell. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes; then reduce heat to 300 degrees and bake an additional 20 – 30 minutes, until set. Cool completely and store in refrigerator before serving.
Notes: I ended up baking this pie far longer than the recipe called for - a good additional 20 minutes. I would recommend increasing the beginning temperature to at least 350 degrees. I would also increase the flour to 1/3 cup as it came out a bit runny (but still delicious).
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