Saturday, July 10, 2010

Rosie Makes Summer Pie.

If you'd like a slice of summer on a plate,
 I've got Summer Pie for you that's sure to please.
Just let the pretty soak in. Basil and chives thrown in.
My ingredients:
 3 medium sized tomatoes just picked from my garden 
my first squash,
 just picked basil and chives,
 just picked small onion
 fresh corn kernels,  just scraped off the cob
 handful of sliced shrooms
 custard mixture (3 eggs, 1/2 cup skim milk, 1/2 cup heavy cream) 
assorted cheeses (Swiss,cubed, Mozzarella, grated.) s&p
Shrooms get a quick stir fry in some ELBOO.
After the mushrooms were browned, 
I added the corn and cooked for a minute or two. 
Dot your pie crust with small cubes of Swiss cheese. I apologize, dear readers, for my egregious gaffe. I'm Semi-Ho'ing my pie. I'm actually using ... >gasp< ... a frozen crust. And I will show you why I don't like store-bought crusts. (One among many reasons.)
Add in sauteed mushrooms and corn.
Slice a squash which, up until a minute ago, was still on the plant.
Slice a small onion.
Add squash and onion to pie.
Peel your tomatoes and slice in half. Stick your fingers in the jelly sacs and squeeze to get the juice and seeds out.
Thusly. Chop up your 'maters.
Take three eggs and whisk them.
My milk on hand at any given time is either 1/2% or skim and I always have heavy cream in the fridge. My mixture above is 1/2 cup skim milk and 1/2 cup heavy cream. I scalded it, then let it cool a bit before whisking into the eggs. I think scalding the milk helps this cook a little quicker, but never pour it boiling hot into eggs. You don't want scrambled eggs.
Pour custard mixture over top of veggies.
Pretty.
Chop your chives and basil.
Sprinkle some of the basil and chives over top, reserving some for later.
Grate mozzarella over top.
Ready for baking in a 350 degree oven for about 50 minutes. Check early to see if custard is set. When you take it out, let it sit for about 30 minutes before cutting to allow the custard to set completely. Something I should have mentioned. Put your pie pan on a baking pan before you start adding anything, especially the custard. Now, for a reason I don't use store bought crusts: They're not deep enough. They don't hold enough. I wasn't able to use up all the custard when I filled the pie. So after 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven ...
... I tried to add the remainder of the custard back in. Should've worked since a bunch of the egg mixture had already flowed out. And it kinda did. Just have a proper pie crust to begin with - a deep dish one. If you must use store-bought do not buy the ones already in an aluminum pan. Use the Pillsbury ones that are rolled up. They're bigger.
I have to say - that custard overflow was pretty darn good.

Let the pie sit for about 20-30 minutes before slicing.
And here you have Summer on a plate.

Don't forget to sprinkle more chives and basil. 
This was good. 
Very good. 
It was surprisingly sweet.
 Not overly so,
 but there was a definite sweetness to it,
 I think from the corn. 
Wonderful flavors.
I think summer just exploded in my mouth.

8 comments:

Kathy said...

"I think summer just exploded in my mouth."
I thought something totally dirty.
Get rid of the evil tomatoes & I would love the exploding pie.

Ken said...

That looks really good--I would love to try it sometime (when it isn't so hot in my house).

Anonymous said...

"Stick your fingers in the jelly sacs and squeeze to get the juice and seeds out."
We'll be trying this pie! Can't wait for some ripe tomatoes! Would you also remove the jelly sacks if you were making salsa? I would think the juice would be a good thing, and any reason not to use the seeds?

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Anony, Yes, go ahead and remove the sacs for salsa or, for that matter,
any dish involving tomatoes. I peel them because the skin is indigestible. The juice adds too much water. The seeds add nothing except more indigestible stuff. Also, if you have diverticulitis, you wouldn't want to be eating small seeds. The jelly only adds watered-down dilution. The tomato flesh itself will give up its water, so you don't need anymore.

And I can't think of any reason to use tomato seeds.

Please let me know how yours turns out. And please use a deep dish pie or even better, make your own pie dough.

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Also, Anony, if you left the moisture in these tomatoes, it would overwhelm the custard and you'd get a mess. Whenever dealing with custards get rid of moisture. That's why you cook the mushrooms first. To get rid of the water. Mushrooms are all water. If you put them un-sauteed in your pie,
they'd make a watery mess in the pie.

Marilyn said...

Looks good.

We just got the first tomato out of our garden today. Good times.

zzzadig said...

You can throw this pie in my face anytime...nyuk, nynk, woo, woo, woo.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Rosie, that makes sense, and I'll let you know how it turns out.