A Taste of Spring with Strawberry Pie

In case you haven't noticed, it's strawberry season, and the delicious red berries and popping up in farmers' fields and markets all over. We've been getting especially sweet and tasty strawberries from vendors at the Marin Civic Center farmer's market, as well as at local stores. Recently, we found ourselves with a surplus of strawberries, and wondered momentarily what to do with them. Fortunately, an answer was immediately at hand—strawberry pie.

Unlike our equally delicious strawberry rhubarb pie, this refrigerated pie requires little baking or cooking, and is something that the kids can help with in the kitchen safely and easily. Here's what you'll need:

• 1 9-inch pie shell, baked (we usually use the good quality frozen pie crusts from Trader Joe's)
• 1 quart (two of those little plastic baskets) fresh strawberries, divided
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Heavy whipping cream (optional)

Bake a pie crust in a 9-inch pan according to package instructions, or make your own. Let cool. Wash and hull strawberries. Take half the berries and sugar and place them in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until berries soften slightly, then mash them coarsely with a potato masher or wooden spoon. Thoroughly dissolve cornstarch and water and slowly add to the strawberry mixture in the pan. Cook about 10 minutes or until thickened. Add more water if it seems too dense.

Take the other pint of strawberries and cut them into halves (or quarters, if they're really huge). If you've got very small berries, feel free to leave them whole. Arrange berry halves into pie shell and pour the mashed berry mixture from the pan over to fill the shell.

Refrigerate pie for at least two hours or until set. If you like, you can decorate the cooled pie with whipped cream (one of those “Redi-whip” cans comes in handy here). Otherwise, dollop a bit of sweetened whipped cream on top when serving. It tastes like springtime!