Strawberry dreaming

I just love Strawberry Pie.The classic Testa's Restaurant in Palm Beach, before it changed hands, had THE BEST along with the house salad dressing. Alas, it's no longer the same. If anyone knows their house salad dressing or Mama Gilda's in West Palm , please put it in my blog- they are important childhood tastes that I miss!! My sister Maggie is quite a baker. She has searched for a strawberry pie recipe comparable to Testa's. She makes it even better, with a little help from Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book and a homemade crust with a secret ingredient- sugar.Here goes..

Crust: make your favorite crust and add 2 teaspoons of sugar to the recipe or buy a frozen one and sprinkle sugar on top- make sure you bake it .

Filling:
8 cups fresh strawberries hulled and cut-get organic if you can(don't t me started on berries and how they should be organic)
2/3 cups water
2/3 cups sugar
2 tbls cornstarch
Homemade whipped cream(heavy cream in mixer with either powdered sugar or vanilla and whip it till it looks like whipped cream- but not butter)

Combine 1 cup of strawberries and water . Cover and blend in blender till smooth.Add enough water to mixture to equal 1 1/2 cups. In saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch on medium heat;stir in blended strawberry mixture and cook till thickened and bubbly- cool for 10 minutes.Spread a quarter of glaze on bottom of baked pie shell, add half the berries,then half the glaze over the berries, then more berries and the rest of the glaze.Chill for no more than two hours- after that it gets runny. Serve with whipped cream on top.