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I saw a recipe for tomato and corn pie last summer on Smitten Kitchen and just had to make it. Considering how much I liked it, I'm surprised I didn't post it on here sooner. I have made only a couple very minor adjustments, the two important ones being using my own biscuit recipe for the crust (2/3 of the Yogurt Biscuit recipe) and using drained homemade yogurt in place of mayo and lemon juice.
Tomato and Corn Pie
serves 8
Crust
3 oz pastry flour
6 oz ap flour (or 3 oz ap, 3 oz whole wheat)
(that's about 2 cups flour total)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter
3/4 to 1 cup (~6 ounces) plain yogurt
Filling
1-3/4 lb tomatoes (2 large or 3 medium), blanched and peeled
1-1/2 cups corn (from 3 ears), coarsely chopped by hand
1/4 cup basil leaves
1/8 cup chives
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
6-7 oz (1-1/2 to 1-3/4 cup) cheddar, grated
about 1 cup yogurt to drain (alternately, 1/3 cup mayonnaise + 2 tablespoons lemon juice or scant 1/2 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt)
1. Preheat oven to 400°F
2. Place two layers of paper towel in a colander and set the colander over a bowl. Scoop in about 1 cup yogurt to drain
3. In a large mixing bowl, mix flours, baking powder, baking soda, and the salt for the crust
4. Grate in the butter
5. Add the yogurt and mix gently until all ingredients are in a ball
6. Split the ball of dough in two and roll out on a well-floured sheet of wax paper
7. Place bottom crust into a pie tin
8. Slice tomato into rounds, and gently deseed; roughly chop the corn (if you haven't already); finely chop the chives and basil; grate the cheese
9. Layer into the pie crust half each of the tomato slices, corn, cheese, herbs and spices (salt and pepper); then layer in the second half
10. Top with a scant 1/2 cup drained yogurt
11. Top with the second rolled out crust, seal and flute the edges, then cut air vents in the top (as with any other pie)
12. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly
Showing posts with label pie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pie. Show all posts
23 July 2011
01 June 2010
Cherry Pie
While I was visiting my family, my sister wanted me to make some cherry pie for her boyfriend. I was thinking about getting frozen cherries, since it was a little early in the season round my hometown for cherries just now, but my hometown is also pretty much an armpit of the state, there was nowhere to buy frozen cherries either. I ended up making the pies with cherry pie filling--alright, but far from amazing. I made it up with using my lovely pie crust with a half substitution for butter and double sugar.
However, toward the end of my visit (and after the second rendition of cherry pie filling pie, I was looking through the freezer for something to put in the small pie I had made of the leftover crust. What should I happen upon, of course, but cherries! Needless to say, I made up another cherry pie, and it did not go to my sister's boyfriend!
The cherries had to be pitted, and I could tell that they had some sugar before freezing, though I didn't have a clue how much. But this is what basically went into the pie:
Cherry Pie
~2-1/4 cups cherries + juice
scant 2/3 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons cornstarch
I heated it all in a pan on the stovetop so that I could taste the end filling to make sure the acid/sugar ratio was appropriate. And boy! was it ever! I don't think that I ever had such an amazing cherry pie. I just wish that I knew what kind of cherries they were. My dad thinks that they were black cherries, and I tend to agree, but whatever they were, it was certainly a heavenly pie!
However, toward the end of my visit (and after the second rendition of cherry pie filling pie, I was looking through the freezer for something to put in the small pie I had made of the leftover crust. What should I happen upon, of course, but cherries! Needless to say, I made up another cherry pie, and it did not go to my sister's boyfriend!
The cherries had to be pitted, and I could tell that they had some sugar before freezing, though I didn't have a clue how much. But this is what basically went into the pie:
Cherry Pie
~2-1/4 cups cherries + juice
scant 2/3 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons cornstarch
I heated it all in a pan on the stovetop so that I could taste the end filling to make sure the acid/sugar ratio was appropriate. And boy! was it ever! I don't think that I ever had such an amazing cherry pie. I just wish that I knew what kind of cherries they were. My dad thinks that they were black cherries, and I tend to agree, but whatever they were, it was certainly a heavenly pie!
Never-Fail Pie Crust
So, I'm surprised that I haven't posted this before now. It's really the only pie crust recipe that I have ever made. It just works so wonderfully: It's not fussy, you can use a number of substitutes, and it always turns out nice and flaky. Here's the basic incarnation.
Never-Fail Pie Crust
4 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shortening
1 large egg
1/2 c cold water
1 tablespoon vinegar
1. In mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt
2. Cut in shortening until crumbs are pea-sized or smaller
3. In smaller bowl, mix egg, water, vinegar until in a single phase
4. Mix wet ingredients into dry until most of the flour is incorporated. Toward the end, you might need to gently knead the dry ingredients into the dough.
5. Separate into 4 balls, then roll on lightly floured surface (I like to use wax paper for ease of transportation to pie pan) and use as any pie crust
Now, for notes.
While this pie crust is supremely unfussy, in a warm kitchen, it's still nice to put it in the fridge for 10 minutes or so if it's a bit sticky. Alternately, you can use a bit more flour (it can stand it, but it's better to just fridge it).
For substitution on fats, you can use all butter, but it's quite sticky. If I did that again, I'd cut by 1/4 cup-ish. I much prefer substituting only half of the shortening for butter if I want a butter-y crust. I also know that my great-grandmother used lard, but the closest I've gotten to that is using the animal fat based shortening (pretty close, but I don't know how close for handling purposes). Honestly, that was the easiest fat to work with that I have ever used in this recipe.
When halving this recipe, still use 1 egg, but reduce the water to 1/8 cup instead of to 1/4 cup.
If I know that all the pie crust is going to dessert pies, I like to double the sugar. I've also accidentally doubled the salt (when doing a half recipe), and that's perfectly fine. It doesn't help anything, but if you do have a brain-fart like I did, it really is fine to go ahead with the half recipe.
For flour, I've not done a lot of substitutions, but I know that if you're using pastry flour, only substitute half! Otherwise it turns out very wet. It's salvageable by throwing in more flour (at that point I used whole wheat flour), but it made a bit of a mess. I haven't tried completely using whole wheat flour, but substituting up to a quarter is excellent.
Never-Fail Pie Crust
4 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shortening
1 large egg
1/2 c cold water
1 tablespoon vinegar
1. In mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt
2. Cut in shortening until crumbs are pea-sized or smaller
3. In smaller bowl, mix egg, water, vinegar until in a single phase
4. Mix wet ingredients into dry until most of the flour is incorporated. Toward the end, you might need to gently knead the dry ingredients into the dough.
5. Separate into 4 balls, then roll on lightly floured surface (I like to use wax paper for ease of transportation to pie pan) and use as any pie crust
Now, for notes.
While this pie crust is supremely unfussy, in a warm kitchen, it's still nice to put it in the fridge for 10 minutes or so if it's a bit sticky. Alternately, you can use a bit more flour (it can stand it, but it's better to just fridge it).
For substitution on fats, you can use all butter, but it's quite sticky. If I did that again, I'd cut by 1/4 cup-ish. I much prefer substituting only half of the shortening for butter if I want a butter-y crust. I also know that my great-grandmother used lard, but the closest I've gotten to that is using the animal fat based shortening (pretty close, but I don't know how close for handling purposes). Honestly, that was the easiest fat to work with that I have ever used in this recipe.
When halving this recipe, still use 1 egg, but reduce the water to 1/8 cup instead of to 1/4 cup.
If I know that all the pie crust is going to dessert pies, I like to double the sugar. I've also accidentally doubled the salt (when doing a half recipe), and that's perfectly fine. It doesn't help anything, but if you do have a brain-fart like I did, it really is fine to go ahead with the half recipe.
For flour, I've not done a lot of substitutions, but I know that if you're using pastry flour, only substitute half! Otherwise it turns out very wet. It's salvageable by throwing in more flour (at that point I used whole wheat flour), but it made a bit of a mess. I haven't tried completely using whole wheat flour, but substituting up to a quarter is excellent.
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