Or Galette, or Crostata, or open-face pie, or bottom crust pie or as Alex said, ‘Oh. I thought it would have a lump in the middle, you know, like a hat’. It’s worth noting at this point that a strawberry pie was his request, thus he had a mental image of its appearance.
His disappointment didn’t affect his ability to eat two slices though, so disgard your worry.
The pastry is a Nigel Slater recipe and is really quick to knock together. You only chill it for the length of time it takes you to prepare the fruit, so no waiting around for upwards of three hours.
It could have taken a little more sugar for my liking, but we had some custard with it which sweetened it up nicely.

I’m not a fan of strawberries (unless they’re wild – in variety, that is; not in nature) but I have discovered that I like them cooked. Alex said that it tasted a little like jam, at which point it struck us that jam is the taste of cooked strawberries, rather than the pie tasted a little like jam. Oh dear. You had to be there, OK? So a little like jam, but not as sweet as jam and certainly fresher-tasting.
Yum.

Preheat the oven to GM6.
Add the sliced cold unsalted butter to the flour

and rub it in until it looks like breadcrumbs.

stir in 2 tblsp cold water and stir lightly,

then form into a disc and stick it in the fridge whilst you prep the fruit.

I got a punnet of dear little strawberries from the market. They were oddly small, but very fragrant.
Weighed them and they were about 450g.

Hulled them, halved them and sprinkled with 2 tbsp cornflour and 2 tbsp sugar (would have added more, in hindsight)

Combined them all together and sat to one side whilst I dealt with the pastry.

I floured a piece of baking parchment and rolled the pastry out to a large (kind of) circle. Somewhere in the region of 12″. Not to brag.
I piled the strawberries in the centre, as one does with these hat-less pies, but left the juices in the bowl. Trust me. Strawberries do not need additional liquid.

To gather the edges up, I lifted a bit of the paper and encouraged the pastry to nestle on to the strawberries, then lifted up the next bit, repeat, repeat.

You have to support the end of the previous piece to encourage a bit of a pleat, but don’t fret – it kind of does it by itself and I find that the lifting of the paper is actually an easier way to get the pastry up high over the filling as opposed to grabbing bits by hand and risking a tear.

All tucked in?…up? Huh.

Once all the pastry is pointing towards the middle, brush with milk and sprinkle with demerara sugar.

Pretty!

Bake for around 40 mins. Expect lots of juice – I actually spooned some out of the tin after about 35 mins because I was worried the crust would get too soggy and it was fine. I don’t know whether this means you should also pour some juice away – have a look when you bake it and if you’re worried about it flooding, pour the juice into a jug. You can always pour it over the cooked pie when you serve it.
I explained to Alex that this was one of the reasons I chose to make an open pie – the juice issue. I explained that this way there was at least the opportunity for the juice to partially evaporate – whether the strawberries choose to evaporate their juices was beyond my control – but if the pie was lidded they would have no chance at all.
We had an interesting discussion about the profound nature of choices and the mechanics of evaporation whilst enjoying this dessert, but how much of it he retained, I wouldn’t like to say. His eyes were a little glazed, but that could have been the runny custard.

I have developed a disturbing inability to make Bird’s custard. I can make proper custard with the perils of egg yolks, but custard powder and milk? Weird every time. Sometimes lumpy, sometimes watery, sometimes not sweet enough, sometimes too sweet. It’s like an extreme sport – you never know how the custard will turn out.
Still, I keep chipping away at it.
The pie – with some excess juice removed

Once out of the oven, sprinkle with some more sugar and transfer it to a serving plate. I slid a long spatula between the pie and the paper a few times, then put it on to the plate whilst simultaneously sliding away the paper. It had the potential for disaster written all over it, so do take care.

Serve in slices with dodgy or most excellent custard. Or ice cream. Or cream. Or nothing at all.

—–
Strawberry Pie
pastry from Nigel Slater’s ‘Real Cooking’
PRINT THIS RECIPE (opens in a new window)

200g plain flour
125g unsalted butter, cold
2 tbsp cold water
450g strawberries, halved if small, quartered if large
2 tbsp cornflour
3 tbsp + sugar
Milk for glazing the pastry
Demerara sugar to scatter

Put the flour in a bowl and rub the butter in until it looks like breadcrumbs.
Stir in the water and lightly bring the dough together into a ball, adding more water if necessary. It is a firm dough, but don’t let it get sticky.

Chill the dough whilst you prep the fruit and heat the oven to GM6/200C/400F.

Halve or quarter the strawberries and combine them with the sugar and cornflour. Set aside whilst you deal with the pastry.

On a large piece of baking parchment, roll the pastry out into a large circle of around 12″.
Lift onto a rimmed baking sheet, shallow roasting tin, or large shallow pizza tin in my case, and spoon the coated strawberries in a pile in the middle. Don’t use any juices from the bottom of the bowl.
Swipe a strawberry from the pile and, ignoring the cornflour, taste to try and predict its sweetness. Scatter with more sugar if it’s too sharp.

To gather the edges up, lift a bit of the paper and encourage the pastry to nestle and flop on to the strawberries, then lift up the next bit, repeat, repeat. You’re folding the edges over the fruit as far as they will reach whilst maintaining the hole in the middle. It’ll look quirky (scruffy).

Brush the pastry with milk and scatter generously with the Demerara sugar.
Bake for 40 mins.
I checked at 35 mins and quickly spooned off some of the liquid before allowing it to cook for a further 5-10 mins.
Remove the golden brown pie from the oven, loosen from the paper with a spatula and slide on to your serving plate.
Serve in slices with custard. Or ice cream. Or cream. Or nothing at all.