I know it’s kind of mean to post something on a food blog without photos, but I wanted to share things for my own reference, as well as others’ enrichment.  I couldn’t take pictures since it got eaten quickly!

Yesterday I made a strawberry mango pie, with strawberries I’d gotten at the farmers’ market the previous weekend and prepped (washed, removed tops– shoutout to Bryant for his help!) and then froze.  I was a little apprehensive about strawberry pie because I’d seen so many failed ones before that were just liquid bombs, but some research on the internet turned out to be very helpful.

Tips for Successful Strawberry-Mango Pie

• Clean/top, then freeze strawberries
• Procure dried, unsweetened mango.  (I got mine from Trader Joe’s– “Just Mango”)
• Day of pie baking, defrost the strawberries (I did this in a pot on low heat). Let the strawberries drain in a strainer over a bowl or pot for a while, mushing them around a little bit.  Reserve the excess  liquid.
• Mix into cold strawberry liquid a couple tsp fresh lemon juice and 3 tbsp cornstarch.  Mix until there are no lumps, then heat up in a pot just a little bit.   Mix in about 1/2 to 2/3 c white sugar, depending on how tangy of a pie you want, until dissolved.
• Cut up dried mango slices into 2-3″ pieces in a bowl.  Mix in strawberries.
• Add cornstarch-strawberry mixture to strawberry/mango slice mixture.  Stir well, use to fill pie crust (I did a double-crust pie, based on the Joy of Cooking recipe, but all unsalted butter with no vegetable shortening– I did an egg wash on the top to make it all shiny).

The dried mangoes absorb some of the juice from the strawberries and keep it from being too liquidy.  The cornstarch also helps.  I didn’t cut the strawberries up at all either, so it was very obviously a happy strawberry pie.  Overall this pie was slightly (but not too) tangy, and actually quite amazing.  It was, I humbly report, the first pie to be completely eaten up at a Pie Potluck of sorts. :)