Fresh Strawberry Pie

It's coming up on Craig's birthday. Thus far we've had a steak dinner, clafoutis, a King Arthur Supreme Pizza and tonight a fresh strawberry pie. He loves pie, any sort of fruit pie.  When strawberries come into season, he starts talking about Marie Callender's strawberry pie. Of course, I think I can make a better strawberry pie, one like my Mom used to make with her home grown strawberries. This recipe is nothing fancy, just made like your Mom used to make it. Next up for his B'Day is a gelato cake from Devine and a bottle of single malt. Oh, he is going to love it!


Fresh Strawberry Pie

1 pie crust, either store bought or your own home made (I always buy from the store)

about 6 cups of fresh strawberries, stemmed
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
3 T cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1 T lemon juice

Bake the pie crust and then cool completely.

Crush enough strawberries to make one cup, stir in water. In large saucepan combine sugar, salt and corn starch. Make sure it is well combined so no lumps form when you cook it. Add the strawberry and water mixture to the sugar mixture and stir. I like to stir it until it looks like all the cornstarch has dissolved and there are no lumps. Turn on the heat and bring to a boil, boil until it thickens. Be sure and keep stirring so it doesn't stick. The mixture will clarify as it cooks. Take off the heat and let it cool completely. 

Meanwhile, stem the rest of the berries and to keep the pie from turning watery, dry them off as best you can without bruising them. One of the charms of this pie is to get big whole berries in each bite. While this is certainly spectacular, I actually prefer to at least half them so more of the glaze gets on them. This time I left them whole, because my berries were just picked and gorgeous. 

Once everything is cooled, I pour the glaze over the whole berries. I ever so gently mix and then pour them into the pie shell. Refrigerate for about 2 to 3 hours and serve with whipped cream.