Friday, July 10, 2009

Savory and Sweet Summery Pies

Every gardener ends up with too much of something, such as the notorious zucchini. Here are a couple of family recipes I make to use up some of the excess:

1. Tomato Tart -- this is me and my mom's adaptation of a Junior League of Jackson recipe (original recipe is in the cookbook "Come On In"). It helps me use up basil when I'm tired of pesto! You'll need to preheat the oven to 350.
Ingredients:
Defrosted frozen pie crust (not deep dish)
8 oz. shredded mozzarella
Fresh basil, sliced in a chiffonade
Olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Tomatoes, thick sliced and drained on paper towels

Put the mozzarella in the crust, then top with basil. Top that with the tomatoes as shown below.
Drizzle a little olive oil over the tomatoes and then sprinkle with S&P. Bake for about 35 minutes. It will need to sit for a few minutes before slicing, and you should drain off any excess water. It's also great leftover, cold, room temperature, or hot. I slice this in about 10 slices (slivers, really) for a party, four slices for a meal. 2. Apple Crisp -- OK, this isn't a pie, but it's in a pie pan! Anyway, my mom has three apple trees that produce "cooking apples," which seem to be the only kind of apples that grow well in the deep south. She gives me BAGS of them every summer, so I made up this recipe a few weeks ago, and it is delicious. First, preheat your oven to 350.
I combined diced cooking apples with some white sugar and fresh lemon juice. You could leave out the white sugar if you were using granny smith apples instead. Spread this mixture in a pie pan or similar shallow dish.
Combine the following and spoon atop the apple mix: chopped pecans, cinnamon, brown sugar, a little flour, a pinch of salt, small chunks of butter.
Bake for about 35 minutes. Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.
What do you make or do with your excess garden produce?

4 comments:

Janet, The Queen of Seaford said...

Both sounds great Ginger!! Have always been a fan of Apple Crisp.

Susie said...

Oh those look delish Ginger! I wish I had some excess garden produce, or any garden produce for that matter!!! lol

Emily Vandall said...

Tomato Tart is amazing. (But I buy mine from the Farmer's Market, as I have no idea how to cook.)

I do have a tomato plant. I found that out yesterday. Apparently, my son and his grandmother planted it. (Perhaps I should go outside more often.)

Ginger said...

Janet- Me, too - even bad apple crisp is good!

Susie- My vegetables are maddeningly slow this year, too. I had all those beans, a few strawberries and blueberries, and a few cherry tomatoes - that's it so far!

Emily- Thanks for the comment!! How hilarious that you didn't know you had a tomato plant. I wish we had the kind of farmer's market that sold gourmet food!