While many of the pies I've made so far have been new to me, most of the recipes have been selected/created because I think they will be delicious. This week I'm in new territory; prior to starting this pie, nothing seemed delicious about it. But being up for a new adventure, I decided I to act on the green tomatoes in the garden before frost nipped them. My friend Kathy has found and shared several recipes from The Columbus Dispatch - Green Tomato Pie being one of them. Thus, I was set!
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Green Tomato Pie
The Columbus Dispatch
submitted by Karen Hughes, Galloway
Ingredients:
crust for 1 double-crust pie
2 pounds green tomatoes
juice of 1 lemon
1 1/4 cups plus 1 T. sugar
3 T. flour
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. ground cloves
1/2 t. cinnamon
2 T. butter
1 egg white, lightly beaten
Pie Algorithm:
1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. Thinly slice tomatoes. Place in a large bowl. Pour boiling water over. Let stand 3 minutes. Drain. Pour lemon juice over tomatoes.
3. Mix 1 1/4 c. sugar, flour, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon together. Sprinkle over tomatoes. Toss lightly to coat.
4. Arrange 1 crust in bottom of pie dish. Fill with tomato mixture. Dot with butter. Cover with second pie crust. Crimp edges. Brush lightly with egg white. Brush with remaining 1 T sugar. Cut slits into pie vent.
5. Place pie on baking sheet. Bake 25 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350F. Bake 20 minutes longer or until top is golden brown.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Remember that old saying about 'If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all?' This could be a short blog!
At first I was excited about trying this pie. The tomatoes were several different beautiful shades of green so I figured the pie would be beautiful! Plus, there was so much sugar added that I figured any hint of tomato flavor had to be wiped out by the sweetness of the pie. (Remember the Surprise Pie? I thought that if you can make a tasty pie with zucchini, then surely you can do the same with green tomatoes!) However my excitement diminished when I got to step 2 and smelled the tomatoes sitting in the boiling water. Couple this smell with a store-purchased crust (used to save some much-needed time this week), and we have one Gross Pie!
Later that evening, I tried that pie with Perry and Grandma Dixie. Perry was the bravest, and tried it first. (Though he wasn't so brave that he could eat it with his eyes open!) His comments were that if you didn't see the tomatoes, the pie tasted like apple. This made sense with all the sugar and the spices added, so Grandma and I tried ours. Grandma agreed with Perry - the pie tasted a lot like apple. She didn't ask for more, but also didn't seem to mind the pie. I was not so easily tricked - while the spices did taste a lot like apple, the texture of the tomatoes was awful. They were slimy and chewy and reminded me of my meat-eating days. Perhaps this was a result of the pie not baking long enough? Seeing as I don't plan to make/eat another green tomato pie in the near future, I'm not convinced I will ever know.
I made a second, smaller pie to share with my recipe-bearing friend Kathy and her husband Al. I realized last week that Al is my secondary pie tester; it seems that he is the person to have tested the most of my pies, only second to Perry! I really like both Al and Kathy, and I hope that sharing this with them doesn't put a damper on our friendship!
Here's to creating something more delicious next week!
No comments:
Post a Comment