Strawberry Rhubarb Pie With Almond Streusel

Combining all sorts of ideas, this makes my ideal pie. I can't believe I'm actually sharing the recipe--swore I never would. My husband begs me to make it, and every time I do for company, potlucks, etc.--there's never a scrap left. I'm sure it would make good leftovers. . . Try my All Butter Pie Crust (Pastry) recipe with this one--it holds up very well with the "wet" filling.

• Ready In: 1 hr 20 mins
• Serves: 8
• Yields: 1 pie

Ingredients

• Filling

• 3  cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced thick
• 3  cups fresh rhubarb, sliced 1/4-inch thick (about 3/4 lb.)
• 3⁄4 cup granulated sugar
• 1  teaspoon orange zest
• 2  teaspoons lemon juice
• 1⁄4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1  dash allspice
• 4  tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
• 2  tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 1  nine-inch  pie crust, unbaked

• Streusel

• 1  cup flour
• 1⁄3 cup brown sugar
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 6  tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1⁄2 cup  sliced almonds, toasted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Form pie crust in 9-inch pan; refrigerate while preparing the rest of ingredients.
3. In a large mixing bowl, gently toss strawberries through tapioca, and let rest for five minutes. While resting, prepare streusel.
4. In a small food processor or with a pastry blender, mix flour, brown sugar, nutmeg and salt. Briefly pulse or blend butter into flour mixture to get pea-sized lumps of butter. Add almonds, and pulse/blend one or two more seconds to slightly break up almonds. Set aside.
5. Pour pie filling into pie crust; dot with 2 TBS. butter. Sprinkle streusel topping evenly on top of filling.
6. Place pie on baking sheet and bake at 400 for 25 minutes. Remove pie from oven, reduce temperature to 350 degrees, then wrap crust edge with foil to prevent over-browning. Bake 40-45 minutes more, or until streusel is golden brown and filling has begun to bubble through spots around the middle of pie.
7. Remove from oven and let cool at least two hours before serving.
8. (The pie does seem a little "low" when you first assemble, but it puffs/rises towards the end of baking. Don't try to compensate by adding more filling, or you'll have a mess!).