By Tilly Dillehay
I stopped by a produce stand in my little town this morning and brought home a little box of strawberries. Fresh from a run, I was both hungry and thirsty, and a glimpse of that red fruit on the side of the road just called to me.
When I got the strawberries home, I discovered that although perfectly ripe and with just the right texture, they weren’t as sweet as I would have liked. Solution?
One word. Pie.
I went online, combined some pie recipes, pulled some rosemary out of my garden on a whim, and incorporated the herb on a hunch.
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 refrigerated pie crust
Filling
- 5 cups fresh strawberries
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
Topping
- 1 cup sweetened whipped cream (heavy whipping cream, whipped with a little sugar, or prepackaged whipped cream)
Steps
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1) Heat oven to 450°F. Bake pie crust as directed on box for One-Crust Baked Shell, using 9-inch glass pie plate. Cool completely on cooling rack, about 15 minutes.
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2) Meanwhile, in small bowl, crush enough strawberries to make 1 cup. In 2-quart saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch; stir in crushed strawberries and water. Add two whole springs of rosemary and allow them to cook with the mixture. Remove rosemary before the mixture has thickened. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens. If desired, stir in food color. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
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3) Place remaining strawberries, whole or sliced, in cooled baked shell. Pour cooked strawberry mixture evenly over berries. Refrigerate until set, about 3 hours, before serving.
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4) Just before serving, top pie with sweetened whipped cream. Garnish with rosemary sprig. Cover and refrigerate any remaining pie.
