Week 14/15 - A Couple of Pies

[Posted by Ruth]
With the arrival of the cooler weather, I've been getting reacquainted with my oven.  The fist pie is a long time favorite of mine that I first had at my sister Phyllis' house.  This is one of the tastes I think of when I think of summer.  You have to make it when there are good, ripe tomatoes to be had.  It's fast and simple and is a great picnic dish. 

Tomato Pie
1 unbaked Pie Crust (you can refer to the "Veggies Night Out" post from 6-18-10 for my pie crust recipe, use your own, or use a prepared pie crust)  I do this in a large, 12" pie plate.  Alternately, you can use a tart pan - just do only 1 layer of tomatoes if using a tart pan.

Approx 2 T flour (Wondra if you have it),
2 or 3 ripe tomatoes, sliced (if they are very juicy tomatoes, remove the seeds and pulp)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 cup grated cheddar cheese, white looks better in the finished product
Approx 6 T mayonnaise (as much as you need to place even 'dots' over the top)


Preheat oven to 375.  Sprinkle flour in bottom of pie shell.  Use more or less depending upon how juicy the tomatoes are.  Arrange tomato slices in 1 layer, slightly overlapping.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and about 1/3 of the cheese.  Put a second layer of tomatoes on top of the first, sprinkle with salt and pepper and the rest of the cheese.  Dot the mayonnaise all over the top of the pie.  Bake until top is browned and bubbly, approx 30-40 minutes.  Let cool to room temperature and serve.


The second pie I made this week was a cabbage pie from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman.  We were happy enough with the results but think this one still needs work.  It is a cabbage pie with a biscuit-like topping.  The filling was very good but I would have liked the crust to be a bit more biscuity and less eggy.  My husband liked the crust the way it was, so who knows?

Cabbage Pie adapted from "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian"
1 small/medium head cabbage, shredded
1 small onion, chopped
4 T butter
1 tsp caraway seeds
Salt and pepper to taste


Top and Bottom
3 eggs
1 cup whole milk yogurt or sour cream (I used Greek yogurt)
3 T mayonaise
1/2 Baking Powder
1 1/2 cups flour.
1/2 tsp salt 


1 cup shredded Gruyere Cheese


Prereheat oven to 375.  Melt butter in large skillet and cook cabbage and onions over medium heat until softened, but not browned.  Add salt, pepper and caraway seeds.


Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.  In a larger bowl, combine yogurt and mayonnaise.  Whisk in the eggs.  Add the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated.  


In a 9" x 12" glass baking or casserole dish, spread a little bit less than 1/2 of the biscuit mixture on the bottom.  Sprinkle 1/2 the cheese over the biscuit.  Top with the cabbage mixture and then the remaining cheese.  Spread the remaining biscuit mixture over the top.  Try to cover the entire top.  Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the top is puffed and shiny brown.  Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes before serving.

This also reheated well the next day.

Here is the week 15 haul.  We got edamame, which was a cool surprise!