Green Tomato Pie

What better way to use up those not-ready-yet tomatoes in your garden, before they freeze, than in a pie?

One of my best friends texted me photos of her canning last weekend - saving her remaining tomatoes before their snow storm. She had jars and jars of green tomato preserves and green tomato pickles. And a green tomato pie.

Really? Green tomato pie? I'd never heard of one before. I've made cake out of tomatoes before, but not green ones. Intrigued, I decided to give it a go for the Gluten Free Ratio Rally this month. (If you aren't familiar with the rally, check out my rally page where I have links to all my rally posts as well as the first host post that explains what it's all about.)

Logo designed by Anile Prakash

This month's rally is hosted by Lisa over at Gluten Free Canteen. Our rally challenge this month is pie crust - just in time for all those Thanksgiving pies! Be sure to check out Lisa's frangipane apple pie and tart recipe, where she also lists the links for all the other rally participants and their delicious pies. Oh. Yum!

The ratio I used is Michael Ruhlman's 3:2:1 pie dough ratio. 3 parts flour: 2 parts fat: 1 part liquid. The dough was a challenge for me this month - but I must admit to only giving it one try due to everything that's been going on and my exhaustion! I must say that the only real success I've had with gluten-free pie crust in the past has been when I've used a flour blend containing a gum, or have used egg. This crust was no exception to that, though it did roll out nicely for me to place in the pie pan without too much trouble.

Note that if you use butter instead of shortening or lard, as Ruhlman points out, there is water in butter so you won't need a full 4 ounces (the first amount the pie dough ratio is based on) of liquid. You'll see how I cut back on the liquid in the recipe below.

I thought this time around I'd try to avoid any gums and also avoid egg, instead using a flax slurry. My hope was that the slurry would be enough to prevent the dough from crumbling - but it was to no avail. I even did an egg wash over the crust and pre-baked it, but it still came out crumbly. When I try this ratio crust again, I'll be substituting an egg yolk for the flax slurry and some or all of the water. I think (I hope!) that will make the difference and give me a crust I'm happier with, because I'm already happy with the taste of this crust. When I try it, I'll come back and edit this with hopefully successful results.

Also, because I could tell the crust was going to crumble, I decided not to top the filling with more dough or lattice strips. Instead, I took the remaining dough and crumbled it together with several heaping spoonfuls of dark brown sugar and some chopped pecans to make a streusel topping. That was a good decision, as it turned out delicious.

I have an assortment of tomatoes in my garden and used green (unripe) yellow pear, Roma and black zebra tomatoes for this pie. I was running out of light when I took the photos of the baked pie, so it still looks runny in the photos. No worries, though - once it cools, the pie filling thickens nicely.

Did we like the green tomato pie? Beyond a shadow of doubt, YES. Both daughters said it was one of the best pies they'd ever eaten, and my husband and I were equally pleased with the results. We'll be making more of this pie at the end of every growing season! The recipe for this pie was inspired by the Green Tomato Pie III on allrecipes.com. I changed several things, but that's the recipe that my friend above directed me to when asked for her recipe.

Green Tomato Pie with Ratio Crust
(Printable Recipe)

Crust:
Projected crust prep time: 15 minutes, then chill before rolling and you may want to pre-bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes
1 oz. (29 g) white rice flour
2 oz. (58 g) tapioca starch
1 oz. (29 g) teff flour
2 oz. (58 g) sweet rice flour
2 oz. (58 g) almond flour
4 oz. (112 g) brown rice flour
8 oz. (2 sticks) salted butter, cut into tiny pieces and very cold or frozen (I find if I used salted butter I don't need to add salt to the dough. If you use unsalted, add about a scant 1/2 tsp. of kosher salt)
*(See notes above for liquid, but I used a flax slurry as part of my liquid: 1 tbsp. or 1/4 oz. milled flax seed mixed in 2 tbsp. or 1 oz. water and let it sit in the freezer 10 minutes to get it cold. I won't be doing this next time. I'll be trying an egg yolk.)
*(Again, see notes above, but I used an additional 2 tbsp. or 1 oz. of ice water)
Egg wash (optional)

Green tomato filling:
Projected prep time: 15-20 minutes; Bake time for pie, not including pre-bake on crust: 50 minutes
4 1/2 cups (1 lb. 2 3/8 oz.) chopped green tomatoes
1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 oz.) organic pure cane sugar
Scant 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar (I use Bragg's brand)
1 oz. (29 g or 4 tbsp.) tapioca starch
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Streusel topping:
Remaining pie dough
Several heaping spoonfuls dark brown sugar
Chopped pecans

For pie dough, sift flours together in a large bowl.

Add butter pieces.

Use your fingers, a pastry blender or a food processor in pulses to mix, but I find I get the best results with my fingers. Blend the flour and butter together until it is in large crumbs, with several larger pea-sized pieces.

Add little amounts of ice water (see notes about this above - I'll be using egg yolk next time with ice water, or perhaps no ice water depending on consistency after adding yolk) at a time, tossing water together with flour mixture with a fork until it becomes a dough. Shape dough into two disks of equal size, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until ready to roll out.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out one pie dough disk enough to fill the bottom and sides of a deep dish pie pan (roll between two sheets of parchment paper for ease in transfer).

Carefully transfer dough by turning paper upside down and gently peeling it off the paper into the pan. If any dough remains on the paper, remove it and press it onto the pan. If you desire, use an egg wash over the dough before pre-baking the crust for 10-15 minutes.

In a large bowl, toss chopped green tomatoes with sugar and apple cider vinegar. Add salt, tapioca starch, cinnamon and nutmeg and gently toss with tomato mixture. Pour into pre-baked shell.

In a smaller bowl, mix remaining unused dough scraps from disk with several heaping spoonfuls of dark brown sugar and chopped pecans with your fingers until crumbly. Use your judgment on the amount of sugar and pecans.

Sprinkle over green tomato filling.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. For best results, don't cut into the pie until it's had a chance to cool for a while. You'll be eating green tomato cobbler/crisp if you cut into it sooner.

As noted above, it was pretty runny in these photos because it was  hot out of the oven. It firms up more after cooling.

I hope you enjoy! Be sure to visit Lisa's post at Gluten Free Canteen and see her delicious apple recipe as well as all of the other recipes from this month's participants. Thank you , Lisa, for hosting us this month!

(And please let me know if you find any omissions or glaring errors - I'm falling asleep as I finish this post up!)

Creamy Peanut Butter Pie, and Living a Musical Life

Creamy peanut butter pie. A dessert I've never made ... until now. Last Tuesday Jennifer Perillo told us what we could do to honor the memory of her husband, Mikey, as she and her family, and friends, gathered in remembrance of his life last Friday. His favorite pie was creamy peanut butter pie, and she gave us the recipe, telling us we could make one for those we loved and enjoy it with them on Friday. (For those of you who didn't read my post about this and haven't seen all the photos, tweets and posts regarding this, Jennifer is a well-known food blogger who suddenly lost her husband to a heart attack a week and a half ago.)

When I read her post, it reminded me that I hadn't made an apple pie in a long time. My husband loves apple pie. We had a crazy week, just coming off of vacation and having soccer camp, and leaving again in a few days, but I knew I wanted to make an apple pie for my family. I made the quicker version, a French apple pie, so I didn't need to make and roll out crusts. It was worth enjoying it with them in the moment. (I'll share that recipe another time.) Make a pie for those you love, give them a big hug and enjoy the moment.

*Edit 8/22/11: Please see the note at the bottom of this post if you'd like to help out with donations. A fund has been set up for Jennifer and her daughters.

I was traveling on Friday, and out of town all weekend - so wasn't able to make the peanut butter pie on the day most of you out of there were making it. I made it on Monday instead, and said a prayer for Jennifer and her family as I prepared the pie, and again as we've eaten it. I'm once again in awe - and proud - to be a part of this amazing food community. Hundreds, most likely thousands, of individuals made their version of peanut butter pie for Mikey on Friday, or in the days since. One only needs to go to Twitter and search for the hashtag #apieformikey to see an incredibly overwhelming stream - even today - of peanut butter pies, for Mikey and Jennifer. A visit to food photo sites such as Tastespotting and Foodgawker will show hundreds of gorgeous peanut butter pies. Todd Porter and Diane Cu, from White on Rice Couple, created an amazing video of making their pie, with quotes from others.

I mentioned above that this is the first time I've made peanut butter pie. I don't know that I've ever even eaten a piece of the dreamy concoction - although I've seen them around. Unless peanut butter is consumed with a good amount of chocolate, I've never cared for the stuff. I don't even keep it in the house (love almond butter). When I was pregnant with my oldest, I had an intense craving for peanut butter chocolate cups over a period of weeks. I got to the point where I started making my own chocolate peanut butter balls rather than have my husband go to the store, yet again, to buy me peanut butter chocolate cups. I guess my aversion to peanut butter unless it's paired with chocolate has just naturally made me shy away from this pie. Never again. This pie reminds me of those peanut butter chocolate cups, and I love it. It's that good.

My youngest daughter (just turned 5 years old) lives in a musical. She breaks out into song about everything - things that make her happy, sad, angry, you name it. She is like Frances the badger every day. I've always enjoyed watching musicals, but my husband has not. He would say it wasn't realistic - people don't live like that, just breaking out into song. Until our youngest became more vocal. He actually enjoys some musicals now, and realizes that some people really do break out into song. When she was eating her peanut butter pie last night, the second night in a row, she proclaimed that it was the "good pie ever." I asked if she meant the best pie ever. "Yes!" she exclaimed, and broke out into song about the peanut butter pie:

     "Peanut butter pie ...
     has cream in it ..........
     so does pumpkin, on toooop ...
     but this has more ...
     This has cream, peanut butterrrr ...
     I think this one winssssss ....
     Has peanut butter, cream ...
     eat it every day ... everywhere ...
     You put chocolate in, peanut butter
     and chocolate ..........."

I can learn a lot from my youngest. I want to slow down and savor each moment with those I love. I want to break out in song, sing along with those who do - or at least stop and listen to the music. It's savoring those moments that Jennifer Perillo wanted us to get out of making peanut butter pie in memory of her husband. She wanted us to slow down and enjoy life, in that moment.

In Jennifer's recipe, she makes the crust from chocolate cookies. There are certainly gluten-free chocolate cookies out there that you can use, but this cocoa almond flour crust I made worked perfectly for our needs. Covering it with the melted chocolate made it hold together very well.

Projected prep time: 20 minutes; Chill time at least 3 hours

Crust:
1 rounded cup almond flour
2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
3 1/2 tbsp. organic pure cane sugar
2 1/2 tbsp. melted butter
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Filling:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup organic peanut butter, creamy style
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (*see note below)
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla
1 tsp. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
Chocolate, for garnish

Sift almond flour, cocoa and sugar together in small bowl then stir together with butter until moistened. Press into bottom and up sides of 9-inch pie pan. (Note: Jennifer's original recipe says to use a springform pan. I wish I'd pulled mine out or used my deep dish pie plate. It worked fine in the regular, but I had a little left over that would have overflowed if I'd put it all in there - I just ate it with the spoon.:) )

Melt chocolate in microwave 45 seconds then stir, and melt for an additional 15 seconds if necessary. Carefully spread melted chocolate over the bottom and up the sides of pie crust (it helps if you have a little, flexible spatula for this). Place in refrigerator while making the filling.

Pour cream into mixing bowl and whip until stiff peaks form. Place in refrigerator while preparing the rest.

Place cream cheese and peanut butter into large mixing bowl and beat until light and fluffy.

(*Note: I used organic peanut butter that was "creamy" style and only had sea salt added to it. It wasn't nearly as creamy as some of the other brand name creamy peanut butters out there, and wasn't sweet since it had no sugar added to it like some of the others. I added a 1/2 cup more powdered sugar because of this, but feel free to add more or less if your tastes require it. I also used my mixer's wire whisk while beating it to try to break it up more.)

Reduce speed and gradually beat in the powdered sugar, then add the condensed milk, vanilla and lemon juice. Increase speed and beat until all the ingredients are combined and smooth.

Stir in about 1/3 of the whipped cream into the peanut butter filling, then carefully fold the remaining cream into the filling.

Pour filling into the prepared pan, and refrigerate for three hours, or overnight, before serving. *Note: I ended up freezing it about an hour and a half before cutting and serving, to have more uniform slices than what I was getting just from refrigerating it. I ended up storing it in the freezer and cutting the slices, then letting them sit and thaw several minutes before serving.

Garnish with chocolate shavings, if desired.

I hope you make a pie for those of you love, and serve it with a hug.

Tonight we'll be finishing the last of our creamy peanut butter pie. I'm going to sit and savor each bite and enjoy the time with my family, and say a prayer for Jennifer and her girls. I hope our youngest breaks out into song about the pie again - and I'll sing along with her.

*Note 8/22/11: A fund has been set up for Jennifer and her daughters. If you would like to learn more about it, please visit Shauna's post here: http://glutenfreegirl.com/a-fund-for-jennie/

Or, click here (you can specify the fund in the special instructions if you wish):

Apricot-Cherry Slab Pie

Summer is a great time for pie - fresh fruit pies and cool cream pies. Since we've been gluten-free, I haven't really made too many of these great summer pies. I've made plenty of "cold weather" pies like pecan, pumpkin and apple, but had kind of forgotten about making pie for my family for no other reason than "just because" on a lazy warm afternoon. Until now.

People from all over are sharing photos and recipes of pie for a virtual pie party today. Shauna James Ahern from Gluten Free Girl and the Chef is hosting the event over on facebook and wrote this inspirational post last week about making, and eating, pie.

After I read Shauna's post, I decided I needed to participate and make a pie, too. I didn't want to miss out on the party!

I first thought I'd make a Nestle Tollhouse pie. I haven't had one in a long time and have been thinking about making one. I can't even remember the last time I ate one - it was either at a restaurant or made by my mom or an aunt. I changed my mind, though, and remembered the slab pie. (I promise I'll make a Tollhouse pie at some point and post it, though.)

I love making slab pies because they are huge and serve many people, so they are great for parties and gatherings - great for the Fourth of July. You can cut it up any way you want, and you can even *kind of* eat it with your fingers if you so desire.

I made my first slab pie many years ago when I saw the recipe for an apricot-cherry slab pie in an issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine. They have since published the recipe in their Our Best Recipes cookbook.

It's one of those pies that is great warm, especially with some vanilla ice cream on top, but (in my opinion) tastes even better the next day. It's an informal pie, and tastes perfectly delicious.

I've changed this recipe almost completely. Aside from making the crust gluten-free, the original recipe calls for canned fruit but there were such lovely fresh cherries and apricots in the store the other day, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use fresh fruit.

Making a pie should not be frustrating. I repeat: It should not be frustrating. You need to enjoy it. Keep it simple. Put love into it. Don't let it intimidate you - the crust doesn't have to be hard. As Shauna says in her pie party post, use a mix or buy a frozen crust, whatever you choose, just make the pie.

But did I follow that advice when I started to work on my slab pie for the pie party? Noooo ...

I started out with the flour, choosing the blend I thought would taste best, and went on to cutting in the butter ... When we ate gluten, I made the best pie crusts. They were buttery, flaky, delicious. Some flour, some butter, some water, cut it, mix it, roll it. Good crust. This crust, however, is a little different. This crust uses some egg and some milk. And in my distractions while making the crust, I got careless and didn't use my head. I forgot that I was working with gluten-free grains and followed the liquid proportion exactly as written rather than adding just enough.

Complete disaster.

The pie crust dough couldn't be rolled. (And at this point I'm kicking myself for not taking a photo of it so you can see what I'm talking about, but I didn't think I was going to use it.) A gushy mess. I tried adding more starch and flour, to no avail. I wanted to cry. All that flour and butter, gone to waste. If I used it, I could probably make a good cobbler out of it. I was quite irritated with myself for being so careless ... and I was forgetting to have fun in the process.

Many deep breaths and an hour or so later, I decided those ingredients would not go to waste. I had put the mess in the refrigerator and pulled it back out. I took a little in my hands and pressed it thin. It was a dough, that might even work for a pie. I just wouldn't be able to roll it.

So, I pressed the dough into the pan, filled it and then had to flatten small pieces at a time and lay them on top of the fruit. (See the photos? It's pretty obvious!) Because I couldn't roll the dough, I also ran out for a large section in the middle of the pie (I had decided to lay pieces from both ends and work inward). See the large section that is smoother than the rest? That's it - I quickly grabbed some Pamela's bread mix and flour blend, poured some in a bowl, literally pinched off a bit of butter from a stick in the fridge, cut it in and then added a tad of water and made a dough - that I could roll - for the remaining gap.

So no, it's not the prettiest pie in the party. But it's good. It's really good. And the crust still worked out well in the taste and texture departments.

You see, keep it simple. Keep it fun. If it tastes good, that's all anyone cares about.

I'm not giving a projected prep time for this recipe, due to my mess described above. And I'm going to give you the crust recipe, with less liquid, because it's a really good crust for this pie. But use whatever crust you are comfortable with for this pie, or any pie. Keep the joy in it!

Bake time: 50 minutes to an hour
Crust:
(If you are making your own crust, use whatever flours you wish, in the same proportions - these are the flours I chose to use and they made a great-tasting crust)
105 grams (3 3/4 oz.) almond flour
56 grams (2 oz.) sweet rice flour
29 grams (1 oz.) teff flour
96 grams (3 3/8 oz.) brown rice flour
28 grams (1 oz.) white rice flour
67 grams (2 3/8 oz.) tapioca starch
30 grams (1 oz.) potato starch
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces and kept very cold
1 egg yolk
Milk

Filling:
(I weighed the fruit after removing the pits)
1 lb. pitted and halved fresh cherries (I used dark cherries that were a sweeter variety but not too sweet)
1 1/2 pound fresh apricots, halved and quartered, then cut the quarters in half
1 1/4 cup organic cane sugar
3 tbsp. tapioca starch

(Optional: You can make a simple vanilla glaze with powdered sugar, milk and pure vanilla to drizzle over this pie. I think it tastes just as good without.)

Sift flours and salt together.

Cut butter into flour using a pastry cutter, or a food processor with large capacity.

Place egg yolk into a measuring cup and fill with milk to 1/4 cup total. Mix into flour/butter mixture and slowly add a little more milk at a time until you get dough the consistency you want. (NOTE: This is an estimate on my part based on the mess I describe above. This is how I'm doing it next time.)

Refrigerate until ready to use.

Mix cut fruit together with sugar and tapioca starch in a large bowl.

Take about 2/3 of the dough and roll it out to fit over edges of a 15x10x1-inch baking pan (jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with higher sides) and pat it into place. (Remember my dough wasn't the way it was supposed to be, so it's probably going to look different than yours.) Because my dough wasn't the consistency I wanted, I baked it for five minutes at this point before putting the fruit on top of it.

Spoon fruit over crust.

Roll out remaining dough and place it over fruit. Bring bottom crust over top crust and pinch edges together. Prick surface all over with a fork. Again, because my dough was different, I was piecing it together and had plenty of holes already, so didn't need to prick it with a fork.

Not the prettiest, as explained above. But it's the taste that matters!

Bake at 375 degrees for about 50 minutes to an hour. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

It's equally good served warm, room temperature or cold. 

It's the just-right amount of sweetness and tartness. If you want it sweeter, serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy every bite!

Don't forget to check out all the other pies baked for the pie party today!

Pecan Pie Tarts

Pecan pie tarts, aka "pecan tarts" in my family, are a tradition on my dad's side of the family. My grandmother makes the best. When we went GF, that was one thing I wanted to make taste the same. It took a few tries on the crust, but I finally got a perfect tart crust. It has the perfect texture, taste and look for these delicious treasures. It would probably work well as a pie crust for the whole pecan pie, and maybe even other flavors, but I haven't tried that yet.

I'll share with you that I was making these in a rush the other night. My kitchen was back in commission and we were leaving for the weekend. My first batch got medicated. Yes, you read it right. I was rushing to get them made before we went caroling and I started the filling (the crust was already chilled). I got the sudden feeling that I was coming down with something and so started whipping up my "immune booster" concoction. I ended up adding a dropper of Umcka into the filling bowl instead of my medicine cup. Oops. Thankfully I didn't have many ingredients in there yet, but what a waste of eggs and syrup! I didn't know how Umcka would flavor the filling once it was heated, so I started over, making the filling and sticking it in the fridge. I didn't get the tarts made until late that night, hence the lighting in these photos. And by the way, I thankfully didn't get sick. Either my concoction worked really well, and quickly at that, or it was exhaustion. Imagine that.

(Printable Recipe)

Pecan tart crust dough
Prep time: 5 min., Chill time: 1 hour
1 3 oz. pkg cream cheese
1/2 stick gluten-free margarine (I normally don't ever use margarine, preferring butter, but in this case margarine works better)
1 c. Gluten-Free Pantry pie crust mix

Cream together cream cheese and margarine, then add pie crust mix. Mix very well and then form dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill one hour. Shape into 1-inch balls and press into miniature muffin/cupcake pans.

If you have a tart shell press it will make it much easier. Simply put the balls into the pan and then put plastic wrap over it, and push down on the press. Make sure you don't get the bottom too thin. If it looks too thin, add a little more dough to the bottom.

For the pecan filling, I follow the dark Karo recipe on the bottle, reducing the bake time and using pecan pieces instead of halves. It's the one my family has used for pecan pie for generations. I ignore my fears of GMOs and too much high fructose corn syrup (although Karo claims no HCFS, just the regular corn syrup, which is somewhat better, right????) when I use things like this. Some things are worth the occasional splurge. Dark Karo is one of them.

Pecan pie filling
Prep time: 5 min.
1 c. Karo Dark corn syrup
3 eggs
1 c. sugar
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. pecan pieces (not chopped fine)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. After getting the tart shells pressed, add the pie filling.

Bake on top rack if you have a gas oven, and bake for about 25 minutes. Check at 25 minutes. The filling temperature should be around 200 degrees. I use a meat thermometer, not my candy one, to check this.

Cool in pans on wire racks and then store in single layers in airtight container lined with wax paper. If you won't be eating them all up within a day or two, you'll want to put them in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!