Piccante Dolce: Strawberry Rhubarb Pie on the Grill

Today, July 5th, is a Pie Party across the web. It was put out there by the ever fabulous Shauna Ahern, the Gluten-Free Girl.

I think it obvious that I'm a fan of pie, while I haven't made one in awhile I have done a plethora of pie posts since I started this blog. So when presented with a blogworthy excuse to make one I am all over it.

Here's the glitch, summer is here in full force in Toronto. 80 degree days packed with humidity make my kitchen the last place I want to be when the oven is on. So what's a girl to do? The easy answer would be to make an icebox pie. The problem is my love of fruit pies in a buttery crust will always win out over any graham based crust and pudding type filling that I identify with icepbox pies.

Lucky for me I picked up some gorgeous rhubarb at the farm market at Whittamore's Farm. Plus I had a ton of fresh picked strawberries, making my decision to make a strawberry rhubarb pie a no brainer.

There was still that whole hot box of a kitchen to deal with though. That's where the grill comes in. I've baked cake on the grill, eggplant parm on the grill and adapted other stovetop/oven recipes to made on the grill, why not a pie?

I did a little research and came up with a method using indirect heat on the grill. The following method is what I cobbled together and led to a buttery crust, that was flaky though not quite as flaky as a pie baked in the oven. It was packed full of flavor and is an amazing way to bake a pie when you just can think of turning on your oven in the dead of summer. One thing to note is that you want a clean grill and grease trap to have the purest tasting pie.

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Strawberry Rhubarb Pie on the Grill

by Jen July-5-2011

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups strawberries - washed, hulled & quartered
4 1/5 cups rhubarb - washed & sliced
3/4 cup light brown sugar - packed
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsps cornstarch
1 double pie crust
1-2 Tbsps heavy cream

Instructions

1. Heat one of the three grill burners the over high heat, you want the grill to hold at 350F. I went with the back burner, so I didn't have to reach over the heat source.2. Place the fruit, brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch in a bowl. Toss gently and let sit for 15 minutes. 3. Roll out 1 pie crust and gently lay it into the pie plate. Mound the fruit mixture in the middle and top with the second crust. Gently brush the crust with cream and sprinkle with sugar.4. Place the pie plate on a cookie sheet. Carefully place the cookie sheet on the front 2/3rds of the grill. Close the lid. 5. Bake for 20 minutes, then rotate the pie 1/4 turn. Continue checking it every 20 minutes for another hour, rotating 1/4 turn each time. 6. When the crust is golden brown carefully remove the cookie sheet from the grill and place on a cooling rack for two hours before serving.

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