Thyme for rhubarb meringue pie

Apologies for the pun, but recently, when I’ve thought about making a rhubarb dessert, I can’t help but think of adding thyme to it. Ever since our success with the whole chicken with pears and rosemary, I’ve been fascinated by adding herbs to fruit. Basil and strawberries, rhubarb and thyme, rosemary and apples… I love the subtle savory quality that the herb adds to the sweetness of the fruit.

Double crust rhubarb-thyme pie

Not all of my attempts have been successful. I tried pairing rosemary with rhubarb and while it wasn’t bad, the results just weren’t what I’d hoped. But then a Twitter friend, chef Becky Selengut offered up her recipe for rhubarb-thyme jam. I admit, I haven’t even tried it yet, that’s on the menu for this week. But the idea of pairing rhubarb and thyme appealed to me. Our orange thyme plant is growing strong so I snipped a few sprigs and mixed it in with the rhubarb. The results were very pleasant. More in that in a minute or two, first… onto the recipe.

Rhubarb-Thyme Meringue Pie

• 1 cups flour
• 1/3 cup butter or shortening
• 3 Tbsp cold water
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 4-5 stalks of rhubarb
• 2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 cup of sugar (or to taste)
• 3 or 4 egg whites
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Cream of tartar (a pinch)

Rhubarb-Thyme Meringue Pie

The dough

I admit, this dough recipe isn’t anything special. However it is the dough I’ve been making for years. It is out of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook and I absolutely love it. I always use butter, not shortening, and the results are rich and smooth. I use my Kitchenaid for most of the process, but I’ve been making the dough long enough that I always pop the dough out of the mixer at the very end and do a little kneading with my hands until it feels right. After you make dough half a dozen times, you’ll probably get to that point too.

To make the dough, place 1 cup of flour in the mixer and add the salt. Cut the cold butter into small chunks. With the mixer on 3 or 4, add in the butter and mix until the butter is the size of small peas. Now add the water, 1 Tbsp at a time, until the dough just comes together. Pop it out onto a floured surface and give it a gentle knead for a minute or two.

Roll out the dough and lay it in your pie pan. Fill with pie weights and bake for 5 minutes at 425. Let the crust cool a bit, remove the pie weights, and set aside.

The filling

Remove any leaves from your rhubarb. The leaves are poisonous, and while it would take A LOT to kill you, a little bit will make you sick.

Slice the rhubarb into chunks (don’t peel) and place the chunks in a large saucepan.

Mince your thyme.

To the pan add sugar, a half a cup of water, and the minced thyme. Cook on medium for 5-10 minutes, or until the rhubarb is mostly soft. Taste to make sure it doesn’t need more sugar. I always prefer to start with a little less sugar than the recipe requires and then add more. However I like my rhubarb a little tart. Let it cool slightly. The filling can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Bake your pie

Fill the pie shell with the rhubarb mixture and bake in a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. At this temperature, your pie crust shouldn’t burn, but if you’re at all unsure about your oven, I suggest wrapping the edges with foil.

The meringue

Gorgeous meringue

Bring 4 eggs to room temperature.

Separate out the yolks and set aside (yolks can keep for three or four days in the fridge and we’ll make curd out of them later this week).

In your mixer, add the whites, a dash of cream of tartar, and a little bit of sugar.

Beat on high for 5-8 minutes or until stiff peaks form. You’ll know you’re at this stage when you stop the mixer, lift the beaters, and the meringue forms a peak that doesn’t all over.

Spread the meringue on the pie.

Bake the pie for another 5-7 minutes, checking often, until the meringue is a golden brown. Serve warm or cold.

Chef’s Notes: Normally, I don’t make meringue pies. I prefer double crust pies. You could easily make this pie a double crust pie by just doubling the crust ingredients. However, even though I was planning on making a double crust pie, I also decided to make a couple of mini pies to eat right away. Doing this used up too much of my filling mix and I didn’t have enough to fill my big pie plate! So I saved my dough for pot pies later this week and I topped the pie with meringue. The pie was quite good, particularly since I let the meringue brown for an extra minute longer than I usually do. This really caramelized the sugar in the meringue. I like the extra savory kick the thyme gives the dish, and I think that I could have added a bit of red wine instead of water to the rhubarb and that also would have been a wise choice.

If you ever find yourself with not enough ingredients to fill a pie, just whip out this meringue trick. No one will ever be the wiser unless you tell them!