Strawberry-Lemon Chess Pie

Last Saturday my family and I were invited to a house of a church friend. They didn’t insist that I brought something for the lunch, but knowing me, I couldn’t resist not making a dessert to bring. I was planning to pick some strawberries this summer. I wouldn’t want to miss some U-picking, especially if the weather was good. What I proposed to make was a strawberry-lemon chess pie. This old-fashioned dessert was one of things that I wanted to try from a book and it uses strawberry as part of the ingredients

On Thursday I then went picking strawberries with my son to a farm in Oregon City which was about 20 minutes from my house. The farm’s name is Albeke Farms and they’re still have strawberries to pick. The day was a bit overcast but not overly cold which I actually was glad. I only brought several containers because I didn’t have any freezer space this time. Any berries we picked would end up eaten fresh or made into some kind of desserts.

The strawberries were big and juicy. For some reasons, they’re not so sweet though, the ones I picked last year at a different farm were much sweeter. But since we’re there anyway and my son just couldn’t resist picking, we stayed for a while. On Friday I made the pies, yes, I wrote pies because the recipe yielded two pies. Might as well made two pies, especially since my husband has been asking me to make some desserts since last week.

I brought one of the pies to the lunch at my friend’s house and it was a big hit (lucky for us, we still have one more in the fridge!) People who loves lemon would love this puckery-sweet pie. Pardon my photos, as I was trying to find a good pose for the pie, but most of the strawberries on top just slinked away.

Strawberry-Lemon Chess Pie

Yields one 9-inch pie

One 9-inch single piecrust of your choice

Lemon filling:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (2 large lemons)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon cornmeal

1 tablespoon cornstarch

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

Strawberry Glaze:

One 1-pound bag frozen strawberries, thawed, plus 1-pint fresh berries, washed and stemmed

3/4 to 1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons tapioca flour

2 teaspoons lemon juice

Pinch of salt

To make the filling: Melt the butter and stir in the lemon juice, salt, sugar, cornmeal, and cornstarch. Add the eggs and stir until mixture is well combined. Pour into the unbaked pie shell.

Bake the pie on the bottom rack of a preheated 375 degree F oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the center is set. The top should be golden brown. Remove the pie from the oven and allow it to cool for several hours before topping.

To make the glaze: In a medium-sized saucepan, mix the thawed frozen berries and their juice with the sugar, tapioca flour, lemon juice, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. When the mixture is clear and thickened, remove it from the heat and set it aside to cool to lukewarm. Add the fresh berries and mound glaze atop the pie. Cool completely before serving.

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