This Rustic Pie recipe works great on the grill, smoker, or regular oven. Makes an excellent appetizer or snack while entertaining indoors or outdoors.
Back in late April and early May, my family and I went to visit my Grandma in Washington State. Everytime we go for a visit I always end up wishing I had planned to stay double the time I had originally planned; there are always way too many great stories to listen to, sites to see, and food to eat. And best of all training runs to complete with Mt. Baker in the backdrop. It doesn’t get much better.
This last trip it felt like we really dove in head first on the food part. My dad and I love to cook, and scout out the local specialties (more to come in a later post), and my mom and grandma will excitedly try a new concoction as long as they don’t have to prepare it, and as long as it isn’t spicy.
My mom totally surprised me on this trip and we both decided we would take a cooking class at the King Arthur Baking School while we were in the area. We took an in person tart class, in which they taught us how to make pie crust. This recipe works great for both sweet and savory recipes, we had a blast and since returning even my mom has made some pies. I had never taken a cooking class before and I enjoyed it so much I have signed up for another class this fall.
I won’t give you the recipe for the pie crust because you can follow the King Arthur Baking Company recipes. The one I use only has butter as the fat in it. The most important things to remember are keeping the butter cool, not over working your dough but allowing your butter to be worked to M&M size. You can also do double or triple batches if you’d like to freeze additional portions for a later use. Otherwise you could use store bought however store bought crust may not give the same rustic look.
Fun Ag Fact:
This recipe used grape tomatoes. Grape and cherry tomatoes are actually different, a fact I hadn’t realized until recently. Grape tomatoes are supposed to be smaller and oblong while cherry tomatoes are slightly larger and round. While fresh tomatoes can be produced in most climates in the U.S. the leading producers in the US are California and Florida.
Pie Filling Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 ½ cup of ricotta cheese
2-3 tablespoons of pesto
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Dash of salt
½ cup grape tomatoes
Parmesan cheese for garnishing
1 egg for egg wash
Instructions:
- Preheat your oven, grill, or smoker to the correct temperature as shown on the store bought crust package or in the pie crust recipe. I normally cook mine at 350-375 degrees.
- Mix all ingredients listed above except the egg, parmesan cheese, and tomatoes together in a bowl. Set aside.
- Wash and halve the tomatoes. Lay out on a paper towel to absorb any excess moisture. Set aside.
- Roll out the pie crust and transfer to the baking tray or pie pan. I normally bake this rustic pie recipe on a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Do not forget to grease or line your pan before placing the crust onto your baking tray.
- Begin assembly with the ricotta mixture, if making a rustic pie leave an inch border around the outside of the crust. Once you have evenly spread the ricotta mixture, fold the edges of the pie up around the ricotta.
- Crack open the egg and stir with a fork, with a pastry brush lightly brush the outside edges of the pie.
- Add the tomatoes to the top of the pie. Garnish with parmesan cheese.
- Begin to cook your pie. I cooked this one on a smoker for 25 minutes at 375 degrees.
If you are baking your pie on a sheet you can check on your pie by using a spatula and gently lifting the pie to look at the color and texture of the bottom. Allow the pie to cool for 10 minutes before cutting and serving. This is delicious served warm and cold. Left overs can be refridgerated for 3 days.