Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

I’m still experimenting with rhubarb. Strawberry and rhubarb together is always a winning combination and here I mixed the fruits into a filling for a pie. As I was making this, I accidentally took the wrong spice out of the cupboard and managed to sprinkle onion seeds rather than cinnamon on the fruit. I had to go through and pick out as many of the seeds I could. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get all the onion seeds out (I did get most of them however), but the people I served the pie to didn’t notice. They praised the pie and its lovely filling! Still, I don’t recommend the use of nigella in strawberry rhubarb pie!

Ingredients:
400 g rhubarb
400 g strawberries
1 cup sugar (I used ¾ cup white sugar and ¼ cup demerera sugar, to add an extra rich, almost caramel tone)
½ cup flour
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1 portion sweet pastry dough (see previous recipe)

Instructions:
1. Wash and chop the rhubarb. Wash, hull, and halve the strawberries (quarter large ones).
2. Toss the rhubarb and strawberries with the sugar, flour, vanilla, and cinnamon. Leave to sit for 30 minutes.
3. Beat the eggs and pour over the fruit.
4. Roll out the pastry. Spread some of it in the bottom of a pie dish (or another oven-safe dish).
5. Blind-bake the pastry for 5-7 minutes at 160 C.
6. Pour the fruit into the pastry.
7. Cut the rest of the pastry into strips and layer them over the pastry in pretty pattern.
8. Bake the pie for 30-40 minutes at 160 C.