Call it what you like – rhubarb or pie plant. As I mentioned before, mine isn’t doing very well this year, but some people have lots of the tart, delicious late spring delicacy.
My mother found this recipe in the Betty Crocker cookbook she received when she married in 1951. Other than cutting the sugar almost in half, (cooks in the 1950s were the sugar industry’s best friends) the recipe remains the same. Sorry there’s no photo of the finished product. Between this year’s puny pie plant patch and being on the road and away from my kitchen, I can’t bake a prototype. But if you try out the recipe, take a picture and send it this way. I’ll feature it in a blog post.
Rhubarb Custard Pie
1 – 1 ½ cups sugar 3 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons milk ¼ cup flour
¾ teaspoon nutmeg 4 cups sliced rhubarb
Pastry for 9 inch two-crust pie
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place unbaked bottom crust in 9 inch pie pan. Spread sliced rhubarb on the unbaked bottom crust. Mix together sugar, eggs, milk, flour and nutmeg. Pour over rhubarb. Top with remaining unbaked crust. Crimp and seal edges. With sharp knife, make 8 – 10 slits in top crust. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 45 minutes or until crust is golden-brown and filling is bubbly.
