Tomato Pie

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Tomatoes, fresh from the vine, are one of summer’s greatest gifts. There’s so many ways to use them, but few are simpler or more delicious than a tomato pie. When I first heard the term “tomato pie” – I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Was it sweet? It was after all pie, right?  But, after one bite I was hooked.

Tomatoes and onions are layered in pre-baked pie shell, then topped with a mixture of cheeses and fresh basil. So, yeah, it’s essentially a crust of cheese. How can you argue with that? My girlfriend made a couple for our book club this past weekend, and I’m afraid I might have eaten an entire pie to myself if they’d have let me! With all the fresh tomatoes I had in a colander on the counter, I knew I had to make one to share with you guys!

I did tweak a few things. First, I sliced the tomatoes, then salted and let sit for a few minutes to strain liquid out.  I like the layers! I sauteed the onions with a bit of garlic before adding them to the pie. Added a drizzle of balsamic before topping with the cheese mixture. Traditionally that mixture is mayonnaise, and then various cheeses. I wanted to lighten it up a bit, so I subbed half the mayo for Greek yogurt – and, as always, I love the slight tang that it lended to the dish!

If your lucky enough to have an abundance of tomatoes right now, do yourself a favor and make this pie! Or, better yet, make two – because they’ll go fast. Apparently they freeze great too. Stick it in the fridge the night before to defrost, then bake as usual. I’m definitely making a couple more to freeze before tomatoes are gone for good. It would be wonderful to enjoy this summery goodness in January!

Tomato Pie

1 9-inch pie shell (click for my favorite pie crust recipe)
1/2 onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tomatoes, sliced in 1/4-inch slices
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
2 cups grated cheese (Cheddar, Mozzarella, Monterey Jack)
1/3 cup mayonaise
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
salt, freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350F. Place pie shell in oven and cook for 8-10 minutes or longer until lightly golden. If you are starting with a frozen crust, you’ll need to cook it a little longer. If you are using a homemade crust, freeze the crust first, then line the crust with aluminum foil and pre-bake it for 20 minutes, then remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Place the sliced tomatoes in single layer on a cooling rack placed inside a baking pan, and sprinkle both sides with kosher salt. Let sit 15 minutes to let liquids drain.

Add olive oil to a medium skillet over medium high heat, and saute the onions until starting to brown on the edges. Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute. Remove from heat.

Sprinkle the bottom of the pre-cooked pie shell with the onions and garlic. Place the sliced tomatoes in even layers on top of the onions. Drizzle with the balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle the sliced basil over the tomatoes.

In a medium bowl, mix together the grated cheese, mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, a sprinkling of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Spread the cheese mixture over the tomatoes.

Bake at 350, uncovered, until brown and bubbly – about 35 minutes. Let cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Source: adapted from my friend Sarah via Simply Recipes

Fresh Strawberry Pie

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Fresh strawberry pie has been a summer staple in my house for what seems like forever. But, I always took shortcuts – premade graham cracker crust and the tub o’ glaze that you usually find sitting next to the berries. Still good, but deep down I yearned to make one completely from scratch. So, when we had that large haul of strawberries a couple weeks ago – I turned to my trusty friends at Cook’s Illustrated, and did just that.

Aaand, I can safely say, I’ll never go back to the pre-made ingredients. Being accustomed to graham cracker for so long, I was afraid that the strawberry pie and pastry crust wouldn’t “mesh well”. So wrong! The crust was perfect. Just the right amount of sweetness, it reminded me of shortbread. Also, it held up under the weight of all those glorious strawberries. The graham crust would always buckle upon serving the first slice. The glaze was glorious as well, using a combination of pureed berries to achieve that gorgeous red color, as well as a small amount of low-sugar pectin (make sure you get the pink box!) to get it to set-up slightly. Then you toss it with big juicy berries, pile them into into the blind baked crust – perfection. I liked serving mine with a little dollop of sweetened whipped cream on top.

I can’t say for certain, as the months are still young, but I think this may just be one of my favorite desserts this summer!

Fresh Strawberry Pie

For the Baked Pie Shell:
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into ¼-inch slices
¼ cup chilled vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
¼ cup ice water

For the Filling:
4 pints (about 3 pounds) fresh strawberries, gently rinsed and dried, hulled
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1½ teaspoons Sure-Jell for low-sugar recipes (the pink box)
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice

To make the pie crust, process ¾ cup flour, salt and sugar together in food processor until combined, about two 1-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogenous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 10 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds with some very small pieces of butter remaining, but there should be no uncoated flour). Scrap down sides and bottom of bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add ½ cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into a medium bowl.

Sprinkle the water over the mixture. With a rubber spatula, use a folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Flatten dough into a 4-inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out on generously floured work surface to 12-inch circle about 1/8-inch thick. Roll dough loosely around a rolling pin and unroll into pie plate, leaving at least 1-inch overhang on each side. Working around circumference, ease dough into plate by gently lifting edge of dough with 1 hand while pressing into plate bottom with other hand. Leave overhanging dough in place; refrigerate until dough is firm, about 30 minutes.

Trim overhang to ½ inch beyond lip of pie plate. Fold overhang under itself; folded edge should be flush with edge of pie plate. Flute dough or press tines of fork against dough to flatten against rim of pie plate. Refrigerate dough-lined plate until firm, about 15 minutes.

Remove pie plate from refrigerator and use a fork to prick the bottom of the dough. Line the crust with foil, and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes.

To make the filling, select 6 ounces misshapen, underripe, or otherwise unattractive berries, halving those that are large; you should have about 1½ cups. In a food processor, process the berries to a smooth puree, 20 to 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl as needed.

Whisk the sugar, cornstarch, Sure-Jell, and salt in a medium saucepan. Stir in the berry puree, making sure to scrape the corners of the pan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a heatproof rubber spatula, and bring to a full boil. Boil, scraping the bottom and sides of the pan to prevent scorching, for 2 minutes to ensure that the cornstarch is fully cooked (mixture will appear frothy when it first reaches a boil, then will darken and thicken with further cooking). Transfer to a large bowl and stir in lemon juice. Let cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, pick over the remaining berries and measure out 2 pounds of the most attractive ones; halve only extra-large berries. Add the berries to the bowl with the glaze and fold gently with a rubber spatula until the berries are evenly coated. Scoop the berries into the pie shell, piling into a mound. If any cut sides face up on top, turn them face down. If necessary, rearrange the berries so that holes are filled and the mound looks attractive. Refrigerate pie until chilled, about 2 hours. Serve within 5 hours of chilling.

Source:  Cook’s Illustrated May/June 2011, via Brown Eyed  Baker

Triple Berry Pie

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Isn’t this one of the most gorgeous examples of pie that you’ve ever seen? I can’t claim it as my own, as I’m usually horrible with pies. I always screw some integral part up – like the filling is too runny, or I botch the crimping of the crust. Luckily, my good friend Colleen is great with pies. I’ve had 2 of hers now (a delightful apple crumble pie, and the beauty pictured here), and I can never get over how lovely they look, and how wonderful they tasted!

You can use whatever berries you like. This one was filled with plump blackberries, juicy blueberries, and tart raspberries. The tri-fecta of berries, in my humble opinion. I asked Colleen how difficult the gorgeous decorative crust was to make, and she said that surprisingly, it wasn’t too bad at all. The hardest part was “rolling” out the vine ropes and placing them on top, as they wanted to crack at the bends. Slightly wetting your hands when rolling will probably help that.

So, in short, a big shoutout and thanks to Colleen. I love a dessert that I can enjoy, but don’t have to bake myself. You’re a true friend! Hope everyone is able to enjoy this at some point this berry season. Enjoy!

Triple Berry Pie

For the crust:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. granulated white sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
1/4 – 1/2 cup ice water
1 egg, separated
1 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream

For the filling:

5 – 6 cups mixed berries (I used blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries)
1/2 – 2/3 cup granulated white sugar (depending on your desired sweetness)
1/4 cup tapioca starch OR corn starch
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Combine flour, sugar and salt in a food processor (or bowl, if that is what you have to work with). Add butter and pulse to combine until resembles course crumbs, about 10 to 15 seconds (if using bowl, cut the butter in with a pastry blender). Add ice water in a steady stream, starting with just 1/4 cup. Process just until the dough pinches together. If necessary add a little more water until you get to this state. You should not need more than 1/2 cup nor require longer than 30 seconds processing.Turn the dough out onto your work surface and divide in half. Shape into flattened discs, wrap each into plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Take one disc and roll it out onto your floured work surface until about 12″ in diameter. Roll from the center out and rotate your crust quarter turns occasionally to avoid sticking.  Transfer the crust to a 9″ pie pan.  (To transfer, I gently fold the dough into quarters and unfold in the pan.)  Trim the edges, leaving about 1/2″ overhang and then fold them under. Cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Repeat process with second disc. Cut about 3 to 5 long, thin pieces from the middle. Transfer to a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Gently pinch each piece all along the length, and then roll so it is rope-like. Using a small flower-shaped cookie cutter, cut out and transfer about 7 flowers to the cookie sheet. With the remaining dough, use an almond-shaped cookie cutter to obtain as many pieces as you can. From the scraps, cut out small circles that will be the center of your flowers.  To finish off the leaves, use a knife or clean razor blade to lightly etch “leaf lines” into each almond-shaped dough piece. Cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

For the filling, rinse and dry the berries.  Place them in a large mixing bowl, and stir in the remaining ingredients until uniformly coated. Remove the bottom crust from the refrigerator.  Use a pastry brush to apply a thin layer of egg white to the bottom.  Pour the filling into the crust-lined pie pan, and level with a spoon.

Whisk together the yolk and cream.  Brush a thin layer around the edge of the crust.

Remove the crust flowers, vines and leaves from the refrigerator and let sit for a couple of minutes.  Start by putting down one long piece of rope-like dough across the top of the berry filling in a loopy, simple way (like an S shape).  Just make sure each end overlaps the bottom crust edges.  Lay down the other rope-like pieces as branch offs, keeping the design simple and loopy.  Cut down the lengths of the dough rope as it suits you.  Don’t worry about bad branch connections or cracking/breaking pieces; you can always cover them up with leaves.  Once you are satisfied with the general vine shape, brush a thin layer of the yolk-cream mixture over it.

As you finish decorating from this point, apply the yolk-cream mixture on the tops of each piece as you go.  Use a little on the undersides of those that do not want to stay (especially the center of the flowers to their petals); it’ll work like a paste.

Wherever you want to designate as the ‘top’ of your pie, that is where you will place a flower.  First place a leaf lightly down on either side.  Place a flower down between them, slightly covering the inner corners of the leaves.  Place several more leaves around the edge.  You will have to raise the previous leaf slightly and slide the new one under.  You can place as many around the edge as you want.  I did not go all the way around but left a few inches opposite the flower uncovered.

Place as many leaves as desired hanging off the vine branches.  You do not need to pinch these down; just gently place each where you want them.  Place your flowers where ever looks good to you.  Overlapping a leaf or two looks nice.

Place the pie in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place the pie in the oven on top of a cookie sheet.  At about 10 to 15 minutes into baking, place an aluminum foil ring over the pie edges to prevent them from burning.  Continue baking for another  35 to 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Source: Instructables user kathrynl

Fresh Peach Pie

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It was one of those days. Nothing seemed to be working for me. I went from one task, to the next, to the next last Saturday…yet, nothing seemed to get done. I had gone to the local orchard and picked some peaches the previous day. The peaches you pluck off a tree do not last as long as those you would buy at your local grocery store, so I knew I had to get this pie made. I followed Cooks Illustrated’s recipe, and it turned out great. However, I had issues with the lattice-top.

The recipe had me freeze strips of dough to use for the lattice before “weaving” the top together. I guess I left it in there too long, or my freezer is too cold…but the strips were just snapping and breaking at every turn. I was getting ready to throw the whole damn pie out the back door. Thankfully, my husband talked me into putting it in the oven. I’m glad I did, because it really was delicious. The prettiest pie? No. But, sometimes the best things to eat certainly aren’t the prettiest now, are they?

Lattice-Top Peach Pie

1 recipe Pie Dough for Lattice Top Pie (recipe follows)

Flour for dusting the work surface

6-7 medium, ripe peaches (7 cups sliced)

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

pinch ground cinnamon

pinch freshly grated nutmeg

pinch salt

3-5 tbsp potato starch or Minute tapioca (see note)

1. Remove the dough from the refrigerator (if refrigerated longer than 1 hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable). Roll the larger piece of dough to a 15 by 11-inch rectangle about 1/8 inch thick; transfer the dough rectangle to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. With a pizza wheel, fluted pastry cutter, or paring knife, trim the long sides of the rectangle to make them straight, then cut the rectangle lengthwise into 8 strips 15 inches long by 1 1/4 inches wide. Freeze the strips on the baking sheet until firm, about 30 minutes.

2. Roll the smaller piece of dough on a lightly floured work surface or between 2 large sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap to a 12-inch circle. Transfer the dough to a 9-inch pie plate by rolling the dough around a rolling pin and unrolling it over the pan. Working around the circumference of the pan, ease the dough into the pan corners by gently lifting the edge of the dough with one hand while pressing it into the pan bottom with the other hand. Leave the dough that overhangs the lip of the pie plate in place; refrigerate the dough-lined pie plate.

3. Remove the dough strips from the freezer. If they are too stiff to be workable, let them stand at room temperature until malleable and softened slightly but still very cold. Form lattice top crust on a parchement lined baking sheet, then place in the freezer until firm, about 15 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, adjust an oven rack to the lowest position, place a rimmed baking sheet on it, and heat the oven to 500 degrees. Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil in a large saucepan and fill a large bowl with 2 quarts of cold water and 2 trays of ice cubes. Peel the peaches by blanching them. Cut a small “X” in the bottom of each peach, dunk them in the boiling water for about 40 seconds, remove them and place in the ice water. The skins should slip right off. Halve and pit each peach, and cut into 3/8 inch slices.

5. Toss the peach slices, lemon juice, 1 cup sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and potato starch in a medium bowl.

6. Turn the peach mixture into the dough-lined pie plate. Remove the lattice from the freezer and place on top of the filled pie. Trim the lattice strips and crimp the pie edges. Lightly brush the lattice top with 1 tbsp water and sprinkle with the remaining 1 tbsp sugar.

7. Lower the oven temperature to 425 degrees. Place the pie on the baking sheet and bake until the crust is set and begins to brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Rotate the pie and reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees; continue baking until the crust is deep golden brown, and the juices bubble, 25 to 30 minutes longer. Cool the pie on a wire rack for at least 2 hours before serving.

* If you don’t have or can’t find potato starch, substitute an equal amount of Minute tapioca ground for about 1 minute in a food processor or spice grinder.

Source:  The New Best Recipe Book

Pie Dough for Lattice-Top Pie

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp sugar

7 tbsp vegetable shortening, chilled

10 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

10 tbsp ice water

1. Process the flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor until combined. Add the shortening and process until the mixture has the texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture; cut the butter into the flour until the mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse crumbs, with the butter bits no larger than small peas, about ten 1-second pulses.  Turn the mixture into a medium bowl.

2. Sprinkle the 10 tablespoons of the ice water over the mixture. With a rubber spatula, use a folding motion to mix. Press down on the dough with the broad side of the spatula until the dough sticks together, adding up to 2 tbsp more ice water if the dough will not come together. Divide the dough into 2 pieces, one slightly larger than the other (If possible, weigh the pieces; they should weigh 16 oz and 14 oz). Flatten the larger piece into a rough 5-inch square and the smaller piece into a 4-inch disk; wrap seperately in plastic and chill as directed.

Image updated 7/19/12