Rhubarb Custard Pie

Rhubarb Custard Pie and Rita Martin

This is my absolutely favourite pie! I don't like the ones that mix strawberries with the rhubarb because all you can taste is the strawberries. Which is great for strawberry pie, but this is rhubarb! This recipe lets the rhubarb shine through in all it's ruby glory! 

The recipe comes from this little book published in the 1950's. My mother-in-law gave it to me over 40 years ago.

Check out the awesome inside cover. "No-sift" must have been a big deal back then.

So the thing is, good old "Rita Martin" pictured in the upper left, never existed as such. Her name is a pseudonym chosen because it worked in French and in English! From about 1938, "Rita" was the person who presided over the Canadian Rita Martin Test Kitchen in Montréal, while another "Rita" was the home service director of the American Rita Martin Test Kitchen in Minneapolis. Regardless of which Rita wrote this recipe, I commend her on not putting strawberries in it!

My notes:

• For the rhubarb, I prefer fresh, but have used frozen (still home picked, not purchased) or a mix of the two. I have found that if I use just frozen, the pie can be runny. That never happens when I use the fresh. The recipe also says to use only 3/4 cup of sugar if using frozen. I wonder if that's because commercial frozen has sweetener in it? I'll have to check that out. I've also been known to heap much more rhubarb in this pie than is called for. If you pick your own rhubarb and you wind up with 4 ½ cups instead of 4, just pile it in! 
• I pretty well use all purpose flour for everything. I don't even own cake flour...
• I use a titch less sugar than called for in any fruit pie, as I prefer to taste the fruit. So use about 1 ¼ cups sugar if you feel the same. 
• I've tried different pasty recipes but my very favourite is the 6 crust one using vinegar on the Tenderflake lard box. 
• I have a tendency to roll my pastry super thin, which means that I always have pastry left over. Which also means that I can make a 2nd smaller pie with the leftover pastry. I just halve the ingredients below and it works fine. Small pies freeze easily to serve at an intimate lunch or make a lovely gift for guests. :-)
• I use a large glass PYREX pie plate for company pies. And an ancient glass one that is much smaller for any leftover-pastry pie. 

Rhubarb Custard Pie 

4 cups rhubarb cut in ½" pieces 
2 eggs
1 tablespoon milk
1/3 cup Velvet "Pre-Sifted" Cake and Pastry Flour (or all generic purpose!)
1 ½ cups sugar 
1 tablespoon butter

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Prepare pastry for 9" double-crust pie.
3. Fill with rhubarb.
4. Mix eggs, flour, mile and sugar together and pour over rhubarb. 
5. Dot with butter.
6. Cover with top crust.
7. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.