Tomato Pie

I wrote about tomato pie early on but since I have better pictures and tomato pie is so good I figured it should have a post all its own.

A nice slice of Tomato Pie

I made the first one of the season a week ago.  It dawned on me during my early morning ride into work that tomato pie was something we'd not had yet this year.  It's amazing what you think about early in the morning while riding a motorcycle.  Luckily, I had some pie dough in the freezer from a previous pastry dish.

Tomato pie is something that is good served hot or cold.  It can also be served by itself as a light lunch.  You can't beat a good tomato pie.  So, without further ado, into the recipe.

Tomato Pie

3 - 4 ripe tomatoes
6 - 8 slices bacon
1 medium onion, diced
9 inch pie crust
2 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Mayonnaise
salt
pepper
Basil

Slice tomatoes 1/4 inch thick.   Spread on a rack in a single layer and sprinkle with kosher salt.  Allow to drain the juices for at least 20 minutes, longer is acceptable.

Salted tomatoes draining on a rack.

Slice bacon into 1/4 inch pieces and fry until crispy.  Once done transfer to a paper towel to drain.

For the topping, put the 2 cups of Mozzarella and 1 cup of Parmesan cheese in a bowl.  Add pepper to taste.  Add mayonnaise until you have a slightly spreadable mix.

Blind bake the pie crust at 450F for 15 minutes.  Once the crust is lightly browned you are ready to assemble the pie.

To assemble the pie, spread 1/2 cup of shredded Mozzarella in the bottom of the crust.  Spread a layer of tomatoes, overlapping to cover the entire bottom of the pie.  Sprinkle half the bacon and half the onion on top of the tomatoes.  Add some Basil evenly over the layer.  Repeat with the next layers.  Add the topping in an even layer then bake at 450F for 15 - 20 minutes or until the topping is browned to your satisfaction.

Tomato Pie fresh from the oven

If you don't have fresh Basil, a good option is to sprinkle Italian seasoning on the pie in its place.  Heck, use whatever herbs you think would suit your fancy.

Tomato Pie with green tomato relish chicken and smashed roasted potatoes

 Tomato pie is well worth the time it takes to make it.  Make it and amaze your friends.  If you like tomatoes I'm certain you'll love tomato pie.  It goes with any meal or it can be a like meal in itself.

Let me know how you like it.

Uncle T

Candied Ginger

The good wife has been busy canning peaches from our tree these past few weeks.  It got to the point that she was looking for different recipes to use.  We had plenty of canned peaches, peach jelly, peach preserves, and peach salsa so the next recipe she found to try was Ginger Peach Jam.  She found this recipe online at www.peachtruck.com.



One of the ingredients for this recipe was candied ginger.  That is not something that we have on hand.  I don't even think we've ever bought any before.  We added the candied ginger to our grocery list and headed out.  Once we found it we suffered a major case of sticker shock.  Needless to say, I jumped on Google to see how much trouble it would be to make our own.  It turns out it is not difficult and you can make it far cheaper and end up with multiple products.


First you need to get some fresh ginger.  Try to avoid the larger ones as they can be a bit stringy.  Sometimes you can find something called spring ginger in Asian markets that has a milder flavor if you don't want your candied ginger to have a strong flavor.  I used regular ginger. 


To prepare the ginger, peel it and cut into 1/8th inch thick slices.  A mandolin makes this quick and easy.


Get a pot of simple syrup boiling on the stove.  I used 2 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar.  The next time I'll probably up it to 3 cups each. 


Once the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is back to a boil add the sliced ginger.  Stir to get the ginger evenly distributed and bring back to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes or until tender.  My ginger had just a slight bit of resistance left when poked with a fork.


Pour the mixture into a strainer over a large bowl.  You'll want to save the syrup as it in now strongly ginger flavored.  I ended up with about 10 ounces of ginger syrup.  A little bit mixed with some club soda and you have a tasty drink similar to ginger ale.  You can vary the amount of syrup to make the ginger flavor as strong as you like it to be.

Ginger syrup

Spread the drained ginger slices on a drying rack in a single layer.  Let them dry until they are just slightly tacky.  If they are too wet the sugar will just melt into them.  Drying can take 5 hours or more depending on humidity.  I put mine in front of a fan and they were acceptably dry in about 2 hours.

Sliced ginger boiled and dried

Put some sugar in a bowl and add the ginger.  Toss to completely coat the ginger and return to the drying rack to complete the drying process.  Once the sugar coated ginger is dry it is ready to eat as it is or use it in a recipe.  Any not used immediately can be stored in an air tight container.  Save the leftover sugar for flavoring tea or using in a recipe as it will have a slight ginger flavor.  I sugar coated the ginger in batches so there would be less sticking together and I could use less sugar in the bowl.

Candied Ginger ready to use

The candied ginger and the ginger syrup both make great additions for recipes and for eating on their own.  Ginger is reputed to be a home remedy for nausea so that is an extra reason to keep some around.  I don't know if it'll help or not but the flavor is so good you'll feel better regardless.

The final product

I think I had about 30 minutes of active time in this project.  The rest of the time is spent doing other things while the ginger is either boiling or drying.  In the end, as is usually the case, the fresh made is a far superior product than what you can get at the store.


Give this a try.  You'll have a tasty snack at least.  I'm not sure how long this will last but I'm not sure it'll be around long enough to go bad.  If you do make it, let me know how it turned out.


Uncle T

Mediterranean Sprouted Rice and Quinoa with Sheep Sausage

I know I've mentioned how much I enjoy my pressure cooker.  Well, I really enjoyed it again the other night.  I was thinking about what to make for supper using what was on hand and without having to get overly complicated.  I wanted to use the sprouted rice and quinoa and finding the Thessaly sausage in the freezer provided the inspiration.


Thessaly sausage is a lamb sausage from Greece as I understand it, though I have found sites through Google claiming Thessaly sausage is beef.  Since more say it is lamb I'm going with lamb.  That said, mine was made with sheep, Rainbow the Ram to be exact.  Yes, once again I'm using homemade sausage.  I know there's not a lot of difference but there is a flavor difference between lamb and grown sheep.  Since the determination between the two is age I figure I'm still following the intent of the sausage. 

Mediterranean Sprouted Rice and Quinoa with Thessaly Sausage

The sprouted rice and quinoa were cooked using the same method I'd use for brown rice in the pressure cooker.  The rest of the ingredients were stirred in at the end.  This ended up being a simple yet tasty and filling meal.  The two cups in the recipe refers to the rice measuring cup that came with the pressure cooker. 


Mediterranean Sprouted Rice and Quinoa


2 cups Sprouted Rice and Quinoa, 1.5 cups if cooking on the stove top
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs olive oil
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
6 oz crumbled Feta cheese
1 Tbs minced Basil
1 Tbs minced Oregano
1 Tbs minced Thyme
1 Tbs minced Marjoram
2 Tbs minced Italian Parsley
salt
pepper


Put sprouted rice and quinoa mixture into the pressure cook and add liquid to the 2 cup line.  Add olive oil and garlic to the pressure cooker.  Stir to mix garlic in well.  Put on lid and set for pressure cooking for 7 minutes.  Once the timer goes off, allow the pressure to release naturally.  Remove the lid and stir to fluff.  Add the diced tomatoes, Feta cheese, and herbs and stir to combine.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with grilled meat and enjoy.  Serves 4 - 6.


For a bit of extra flavor you can use broth instead of water to cook the sprouted rice and quinoa.  I used some venison broth I had in the freezer.

Left over Mediterranean Sprouted Rice and Quinoa with Mergez Sausage

We had the leftovers for supper a couple of nights later and the Mediterranean Sprouted Rice and Quinoa reheated well in the microwave.  I added a 2 Tbs of water to it to help steam it and fluffed it halfway through.  Since we'd eaten our last package of Thessaly sausage I grilled some Mergez sausage to go with it.  Mergez is a spicy lamb sausage from North Africa.  Again, this was made with Rainbow the Ram.  I think we like the pairing with the Mergez slightly better.  I think that grilled meat skewers, especially lamb/sheep, seasoned in a Mediterranean style would go well with it also.


Since flatbreads are eaten with meals in many countries around the Mediterranean I was wanting a flat bread with out meal.  Sadly, I didn't think about it in time to try out one of several pita recipes I'm wanting to try.  I ended up heating up some flour tortillas to use for the flat bread. 


I hope you give this recipe a try.  The sprouted rice and quinoa both are tasty and good for you so it is a winning combination.  If you try it let me know what you think.


Uncle T