Basil Cream and Strawberry Pie

*Note: Cook times do not include chill time for pie to set

To pre-bake pie shell:

Line pie dish with rolled out pastry (use your favorite crust recipe, or a store bought).

Tightly line the crust with aluminum foil and fill with beans or pie weights. I find it works best to fill the entire pie shell to the top with your weights.

Bake on the bottom shelf at 400° for 20 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven and decrease oven temp to 375°.

Remove foil and weights from your crust. Poke holes all around the shell with a fork, twisting the fork slightly as you go.

Continue baking the crust at 375° until the inside is golden brown and the shell is fully baked. Check at five and ten minutes, using the back of a spoon to press down any spots that puff up.

Cool shell before filling.

For the pie:

Wash and quarter the strawberries. (Reserve a couple of the prettiest ones if you would like to use them for garnishing.)

Separate ½ cup of the cut up strawberries. Mash slightly. Mix with remaining cut up strawberries and set aside.

In a medium bowl, slightly beat the egg yolks and set aside until needed.

In a medium saucepan, stir together sugar and cornstarch. And milk and whisk to combine. Add basil leaves. Heat over medium, stirring constantly, until thick.

Once thickened, whisk about a half a cup of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks, tempering them to prevent scrambled eggs from forming in your custard.

Add egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan while whisking, continue heating about 1 more minute while continuing to whisk the mixture.

Remove from heat and add butter, stir until melted completely into mixture.

Pour mixture thru a fine strainer to remove clumps and basil leaves.

Spread strawberries in an even layer across the bottom of the baked pie shell. Top with basil custard. Refrigerate until set, probably 4 hours is sufficient but I refrigerate overnight.

Garnish as desired with additional strawberries, basil leaves, and/or whipped cream.