Malinda Lo

Earlier this month, to celebrate finishing the first draft of my next novel (woohoo!) — as well as the fact that the strawberries this summer are fantastic — I made a strawberry pie.

The most important part of this pie is the strawberries, because except for a small amount of puree, they remain uncooked. That means the quality of this pie is directly related to the quality of your strawberries. The ones I used were bought at our local farmer’s market after a thorough taste testing of all available options.

I got this recipe straight out of Joy of Cooking, but I did amend the amount of sugar involved. Here’s what you do:

1. Prepare a baked flaky pie crust, as instructed in Joy of Cooking (the All New, All Purpose edition).

2. Rinse, dry and hull about 6 cups of fresh strawberries, cutting them in half lengthwise.

3. Separate out 2 cups of the strawberries — preferably the more bruised or battered ones. Puree these 2 cups of strawberries in a blender.

4. Whisk together 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup sugar (depending on tartness of strawberries and how sweet you want your pie to be), 1/4 cup corn starch, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Whisk in 1/2 cup water. Stir in the pureed strawberries, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons unsalted butter.

5. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, and cook for 1 minute.

6. To assemble the pie, pour half the pureed berry mixture into the pie crust. Then arrange the fresh strawberries in the pie crust — I usually try to arrange them in rings, slightly overlapping, as in a fruit tart.

Pour the remaining puree mixture on top of the berries. Gently shake the pan to allow the puree to settle.

7. Refrigerate the pie for about 4 hours to set, although you can eat it after 2 if you’re desperate. It’s best with whipped cream.