Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb

It's springtime, boys and girls. Do you know what that means? Of course you do! It means RED SOX GAMES!

Oh, wait, this is my cooking blog. In that case: springtime means RHUBARB! *does a happy dance*

Here in New England, rhubarb is one of the first things that's available fresh out of the garden. However, don't just go crunching into a freshly picked stalk of rhubarb; you'll find it far too sour to eat that way. Rhubarb earned its nickname of "pieplant" because when it's turned into a dessert, you can add enough sugar to it to take away some of its lip-puckering tartness.

Gramma Bonnie's favorite thing to do with it was to stew it down into a sauce. My favorite way to eat rhubarb is in a pie - not strawberry-rhubarb (though I won't refuse it), but just a nice piquant-yet-sweet rhubarb pie. My mom's recipe is the best I've had; it's a combination of the recipes that my Gramma Betty (my dad's mother) and my Great-Great-Aunt Margaret (my Gramma Bonnie's aunt) used to use. I've included both of them after my mom's version.

Speaking of Aunt Margaret, before we get to the pie recipe(s), this seems like as good a place as any to tell a couple of stories about her. I never knew any of my great-grandparents, but I remember Aunt Margaret vividly. Gramma Bonnie told some great stories about her, too, from which I have borrowed.

Margaret Hutchinson, née Wilkins, was born in 1890, and graciously shared her birthday, July 4, with the rest of the nation. Her father, my great-great grandfather, used to say that she was a born firecracker (and it was true, well into her nineties).

On Saturday mornings, she would bring a beanpot with her family's Saturday supper in it downstreet for my great-grandmother Effie Wilkins (her sister-in-law) to put in her oven and tend all day, along with the Wilkins' family supper. She would say, "Effie has her oven going anyway, she might as well do my beans, too," (and Effie never complained).

I think some of my pack-rat tendencies come straight from Aunt Margaret. The attic of her big old Victorian house, as well as the loft of the "barn" out back, were stuffed to the gills with things that might someday find another use. Aunt Margaret loved hats, the bigger and splashier, the better. Many of them made their way to her attic after they'd become a bit worn, and made later appearances in Danvers parades and shows at First Church.

When she turned 80 (the year I was born), she said, "Now that I'm eighty I can say whatever I want!" ...which she had been doing all her life anyway. She joined us most weeks for Sunday dinner after church at my grandparents' house. I remember listening to her, a wide-eyed little girl, marveling that anyone could talk so much.

Aunt Margaret was very involved in her community. She served as an officer of the Danvers (MA) Historical Society; was president of the Ladies' Benevolent Society of First Church; and she belonged to the Daughters of the American Revolution. (She often said that the only reason she belonged to the D.A.R was so that it would be printed in her obituary.) She was often the last person to leave meetings, due to her amazing gift of gab. She made annual appearances as a "visiting teacher" to Danvers fourth graders where she informed them, in spell-binding fashion, of their heritage as Danvers citizens.

This spunky lady was the guest of honor at her 100th birthday party. She didn't stop there, but went on to observe her 101st birthday before leaving us.

I raise a forkful of pie in her honor.

Rhubarb Pie
(a combination of my Great-Great-Aunt Margaret’s and Gramma Betty’s recipes)

Pastry for 2-crust pie
3 cups cut-up rhubarb (1/2” pieces)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons flour
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons lemon juice
grated rind from 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 450˚F.

Pour boiling water over cut-up rhubarb. Let set for 5 minutes, then drain.

Stir together sugar, salt, flour, lemon juice and rind, and egg. Pour mixture over rhubarb, and mix gently.

Put mixture into unbaked pie shell. Cover with second crust; crimp edges and vent top.

Shield edge of crust with loose aluminum foil, to prevent over-browning during the first fifteen minutes of baking.

Bake 15 minutes at 450˚F, then turn down to 350˚F and bake 40-45 minutes longer.

NOTES:
Original baking time on my recipe card is 450˚F for 30 minutes, 350˚F for 10 minutes. That seems to me like an awfully good way to burn a pie. I've only used the recipe myself once or twice, so I’m going to be experimenting further, but took the liberty of changing it for now.

Original ingredients: Aunt Margaret
Pastry for 2-crust pie
2 cups cut-up rhubarb (my mother’s quote: “Aunt Margaret could be rather parsimonious”)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
dessert spoon of flour
1 egg, beaten

Original ingredients: Gramma Betty
Pastry for 2-crust pie
3 cups cut-up rhubarb
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons lemon juice
grated rind from 1 lemon