The very talented designer of the Essential Puree website spoke to me, not so long ago, about rhubarb pie. It is summer and rhubarb is one of the classic flavors of summer.
I confess that I have never made a rhubarb pie. I came across this recipe for rhubarb jam in Saveur magazine. The technique was perfect for the dysphagia kitchen. It opened me up to a whole new world.
Rhubarb Pie, made with a minimum of fuss and attention. How fabulous is that?
The filling is baked in the oven, without a crust, for forty minutes, with a stir after twenty minutes.
This recipe provides you with an Essential Puree technique.
Tip: For a jam, you bake for an hour. For rhubarb pie filing, bake for forty minutes, the same amount of time you would bake a traditional pie.
Result: The rhubarb filling will not be as syrupy and thick as a jam, but more runny, like a pie filling. You then stabilize the filling by adding instant thickener to the puree.
You make the instant crust separately. Voila! An Essential Puree deconstructed dessert!
Tip: When baking the filling, check to make sure that it does not over-caramelize at the edges and corners. Stir to prevent it from turning dark brown. Letting it caramelize too much ruins the fresh taste. It is also not good for the swallow.
As you can see from the photos, the rhubarb filling or jam, after it has been baked, has the texture of a pie filling containing whole fruit. It must be pureed.
So, after you follow the instructions to create the rhubarb filling, please return to this website and follow the instructions for the puree. You also follow the instructions for the quickie pie crust. With the making of the crust and the pureeing of the filling, to assemble the dessert takes only fifteen minutes.
This easy quick rhubarb pie qualifies as an Essential Puree Quickie Dessert.
Swirl Away!
For the Puree
Allow the jam to cool. Stir in a scoop of xanthum gum thickener. Store it in a glass container.
Place ¼ cup of the jam in the bowl of a mini-food processor and puree until smooth.
Quickie No-Bake Pie Crust
- 1 box graham crackers (gluten free work best)
- 1/2 cup of simmering water
- Honey, to taste, 1 tbsp.
- Cinnamon, to taste, ½ teaspoon
- 1 pump xanthum gum thickener
Directions
Take a cup and a half of graham crackers
Break them up into the bowl of a mini food processor.
Pulse ten times to break up. Process until the crumbs turn into a fine sand.
Pour three tablespoons of not quite boiling water over the crumbs and allow them to soften.
Add a tablespoon of honey and a half teaspoon of good cinnamon to the bowl. Pulse to combine.
Add a scoop of dried xanthum gum thickener or .5 oz. of gel xanthum gum thickener. Pulse to combine.
Puree until smooth.
For Service
Divide the crust mixture between two glass serving dishes. This should be ¼ inch deep, about a quarter of a cup. Cover. (I use glass storage bowls with covers, Pyrex or Anchor Hocking. Thickened food will stick to plastic bowls.
Place in the refrigerator or freezer to set up for ten minutes.
Spoon in a layer of the rhubarb pie filling, about ½ inch or ½ cup. This is a one-crust pie. If you love pie crust, if you must have a two-crust pie, then add another layer of crust on top of the pie filling.
Pie may be served warm. Microwave for twenty seconds on medium.
Add thickened whipped cream or thickened vanilla ice cream if you choose. See blog post archive for instructions for thickened So CocoWhip whipped topping and for homemade thickened ice cream. The So CocoWhip is recommended because it does not separate once pureed, as regular whipped cream will do unless you eat it immediately.
Variety: Use this technique to make many different fruit pies from the many fruits of summer.
Safe Swallow Note: Beware of skins. When using a fruit with a skin such as a peach or when using a berry with a fairly solid skin, you may have to run the filling, once baked, through a mesh sieve with a silicone spatula. This takes one or two minutes.