Green Tomato Pie

Summer has turned to autumn. The days are getting shorter, and the tomato plants outside in the garden have stopped flowering. The remaining fruit is not ripening. So the plants have been cut down.

But what to do with all the unripe green tomatoes?

Previously, I have used these up in batches of Green Tomato Chutney.

But I have heard rumours that green tomatoes can be cooked much like apples into pies and cakes.

Google yielded this recipe. I made a few tweaks.

• 5 tbsp cornflour
• 1.5 cups sugar
• A couple of tsp of ground cinnamon
• a pinch of salt
• 3 cups of finely diced green tomatoes
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• Shortcrust pastry sufficient to line and top your pie dish(es). It depends how deep or shallow your dishes are as to the proportion of pastry to filling.

Preheat oven to 170C.
Stir together the cornflour, sugar, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.
Dice the green tomatoes - I was using up green cherry tomatoes, so these were cut into quarters, eighths or twelfths depending on size - and toss with the cornflour mix.
Add the lemon juice and stir to ensure all the filling ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
The juices will come out of the tomatoes and turn the sugar cornflour mixture into a thick syrup.

Roll out the pastry and line your pie dish(es).
Fill with the tomato mixture.
Roll out the rest of the pastry and cut into strips to make a lattice top to your pie(s).

Bake at 160-170 C for an hour or so until the filling is cooked and the pastry golden.

Let cool before serving with yoghurt or icecream.



Categories: American Dessert Pie