In honor of Pietopia coming and some amazing looking rhubarb I found at the farmer’s market this weekend, I’ve made my first pie of the year: Rhubarb Custard Pie. This is an old recipe (from someone who says that they’ve been making it for over 100 years in their family! I’d say that’s pretty tried and true) and it turned out amazing! The softness of the custard is such a lovely compliment to the tartness of the rhubarb; it becomes like a light and sweet blanket that envelops and rounds out the sharp tartness…oh, it’s just good! I highly recommend making this pie.
It reminded me of a pie I made last year for the Pietopia Blog. It too was a rhubarb pie, but I called it The Pie of Unemployment. Like last year at this time, the place I had been working part time closed and I was out of what was supposed to be my summer job. Now, with graduation in a few weeks I find myself in a similar spot. I am so excited to be completing my Masters degree! However, there is that ever looming weight of looking for and procuring employment that has kept me from 100% enjoying this accomplishment. So in the spirit of pietopia, my current status of unemployed, and seriously looking for jobs, I made this Rhubarb Custard Pie. Last year I wrote about rhubarb:
Rhubarb on its own has that acidic taste that makes your mouth pucker and you feel it in the back of your throat. It is a lingering taste as well as a memorable one. The way the flavor gives a physical reaction due to the potency of its distinct taste and then lingers on your palate reminded me of how feeling nervous can not only linger but pose its own physical issues as well. I also thought it interesting the duality of Rhubarb’s use as a medicine and a poison. The scare factor is certainly there, but it is also an interesting parallel to the duality of feelings as well. Feelings, like medicine, can put you on the path to health, spur you on to healthier ways of approaching life, and help find the insight necessary to cure yourself. On the other hand, feelings when ignored, disregarded, or taken in overwhelming doses, can act as a poison.
Bittersweet, poisonous, and medicinal, Rhubarb embodies all the components and feelings for me of being unemployed. Excited that I have more time for my own projects, scared that I won’t be able to pay rent, and a healthy nervousness that spurs me on to stay in the job game culminated into the taste of a Rhubarb pie.
A year later, I would still have to agree. Last year I did find a summer job (which held me over until my teaching assistantship began in the fall) not long after I made that pie. I am hoping something similar will happen with this pie. It’s amazing what can happen when you just put something out to the universe and see what returns. Maybe an interview or a phone call or two will be coming my way (I did send out some resumes!) and this pie helped manifest those 
. Who knows!
And it’s a great recipe, I hope you enjoy!
Pie Crust (this is my very favorite and never fail pie crust!)
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup earth balance
1/4 cup sweet cream butter
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons ice cold water (a little more is needed sometimes)
Cut the butter, earth balance, vinegar, and water into the flour until it is nice and crumbly. Put into the fridge for about half hour to make cold again. Then split in half, roll out first half and place in pie plate, save the second half for the top pie crust.
Rhubarb Custard Pie
1 1/2 pounds fresh rhubarb, cut into 1/4 pieces
1/2 cup sugar
(place cut rhubarb into prepared pie pan with crust ]and pour 1/2 cup sugar on top)
1 cup whole milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
sprinkle of cinnamon
Whisk together milk, eggs, and sugar, pour on top of pie, sprinkle cinnamon on top, close with top crust and bake at 350 for 45 mins to an hour. Enjoy!
