Strawberry Balsamic Pie

Good strawberries are hard to find.

It has to be the right time of year and the berries have to be just ripe enough, but if you get a good batch it’s like a whole other level of delicious.  It’s easy to devour the whole box by yourself in one sitting, why not right?

SO YOU CAN MAKE THIS PIE.

The acidity and depth of the balsamic vinegar combined with the sweetness of the strawberries creates an unreal combination, for a pie with a unique sweetness and summery feel.  Perfect for your next BBQ!

Ingredients

• Prepared crust for double crust pie (double the recipe in my Blood Orange Custard Pie post)
• 1/4 cup and 3 tbsp sugar
• 5-6 cups strawberries, rinsed and quartered
• 1 small apple, peeled and grated
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 tbsp ground arrowroot (or 2 tbsp corn starch)
• Pinch freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• Egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1tsp water and pinch of salt)
• Raw sugar, optional

Steps

Follow the crust steps in Rhubarb Pie post (Here).

To make filling, sprinkle 3 tbsp sugar over the strawberries, stir gently until combined and let rest for 30 minutes.

Drain the strawberries of excess liquid and combine with the peeled and shredded apple and sprinkle on the balsamic.

Mix together the remaining sugar, brown sugar, arrowroot, pepper and salt in another bowl and gently fold into strawberries until combined.

Pour into pie shell, not overfilling (leave a little space of crust at the top), and arrange lattice.

For this pie, I cut my lattice into 8 strips, then cut 4 of those strips in half, so you have 8 narrow strips and 4 wider ones.  Follow the lattice instructions in the Rhubarb Pie post and treat each narrow pair as if they were one thicker strip and it will look like below:

 

Crimp the edges and allow to set in fridge for 10 minutes.

Brush the lattice and edges with egg wash, being careful not to brush filling onto the crust.  Sprinkle with raw sugar if you like.

Bake on a rimmed baking sheet in the bottom oven rack at 425F for 20-25 minutes.  Lower temperature to 375F, move baking sheet with pie to middle rack and bake 35-40 minutes longer until juices bubbling throughout.

Allow to cool 2-3 hours.

Recipe adapted from Four and Twenty Blackbirds Cookbook