Sunshine Strawberry Pie

Pie crust: pie crust is made from flour, salt, fat and ice water. My go-to ratio is 1 cup of flour to 5 T of fat no matter how much crust I'm making.

• 1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 T shortening, chilled
• 4 T butter, frozen
• 4 T ice water (approximately)

Whisk the flour and salt together. Add the shortening, and grate the frozen butter into the flour with a cheese grater. Toss to coat with flour at first, then use your fingers to work everything together until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Don't work with it too much: everything needs to stay cold.

Dribble ice water in and mix until it's just able to hold it's shape: tumble the dough out of the bowl and onto plastic wrap. Use the plastic wrap to gather the dough into a disc shape, wrap it tightly and chill it in the refrigerator for 1 hour. 

Flour your work surface and chilled dough: roll it to about 1/4" thickness and fold into thirds. Roll out once more, then fold into thirds again. Wrap it back up, chill it for one more hour. Roll it out to about two inches larger than the diameter of your pie pan, flouring as you go so that it doesn't stick to the surface or to the rolling pin. 

Place in pie pan, crimp the edges and line the crust with foil. Fill with pie weights of your choice (dry beans, uncooked rice or even sugar), and bake at 450 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove the foil and weights, dock the bottom of the crust all over with a fork, and bake 5-7 minutes longer. Let cool.

Sugar cream filling:

• 2/3 c sugar
• 1 fresh lemon rind, cut into pieces
• 1/4 c cornstarch
• 1 1/4 c whole milk
• 3/4 c strawberry juice (about 16 strawberries, I kinda forgot to count)
• 1/2 c butter, cubed
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

The night before you make the pie, place the lemon rind in a bowl or tupperware and sprinkle the sugar over top of it. Place plastic wrap or a lid on top, give it a bit of a shake and leave it alone overnight. The sugar will extract the lemon oil from the rind and should become syrupy.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large saucepan, combine the sugar syrup and the cornstarch; stir in milk and strawberry juice until smooth. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and cook while stirring for 2 minutes or until it's thick and bubbly. Remove from the heat, and stir in the butter and vanilla. Transfer to the crust, for 15-20 minutes or until it begins to brown on the top. It will seem too soupy once you pull it out, but don't bake it any further! Cool on a wire rack and refrigerate until chilled and set. 

Strawberry-lemon curd:

• 4 egg yolks
• 2/3 c sugar
• 1 T lemon zest (about 1 lemon)
• 2 T lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
• 4 T strawberry juice (about 6 strawberries)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 6 T butter, softened to room temperature

If you don't have a juicer, extract the juice from the strawberries by cutting them into fourths and microwaving for about 45 seconds; push through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Set aside the lemon rinds in their own bowl after you juice them. Place egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest, both juices and salt in a heat-proof bowl and set it over a pot of simmering water (or use a double boiler if you have one). Whisk until completely blended, then continue to whisk as it cooks: constant whisking prevents the yolks from curdling. Whisk for about 10 minutes or until it becomes thick, then remove the bowl from the heat. Cut the butter into pieces and whisk into the curd. Once completely smooth, immediately place plastic wrap directly on top so it is touching the curd (this prevents a skin from forming on top). Place in the refrigerator: it will continue to thicken as it cools.

To assemble this pie, simply spread the curd on top of the sugar cream filling, then decorate with fresh sliced strawberries. I believe I ended using about 1 1/2 pounds of strawberries for this pie, and it was totally worth it.