It’s hard to keep failure in perspective. No matter how many times I hear that your greatest lessons come from failure, it still feels awful at the time. Top that with all the gorgeous social media pictures and I can’t help but wonder where I fit in to the baking culture. I love baking. I don’t always do it well. Lately I’m realizing that it’s a constant work in progress. Just because I plan and research and have the most pristine intentions, it doesn’t mean my end result will be presentable. I wonder how in the world recipe creators do it. How do that make something over and over until it is right or do they even do that, it seems like they are just producing perfection all the time. I’m not, ever. Despite going to bed with a heavy heart, in the morning I feel ready to try again at least in my mind if not actually baking. I think about the next thing and how to change the one I didn’t like. Still, I’m far from where I want to be. The other day I received a gift from my neighbor: a huge bag of the most lusciously red, perfectly ripe tomatoes that she grew in her organic garden. I admit, I’m not a huge tomato eater but these were irresistible. I made salsa for my daughter, a big pot of sauce, and after a few salads I still had left overs just waiting for an herbal bake shoppe trial. Here in NJ there are Italian taverns that refer to their pizza as tomato pie. This inspired me. Earlier this summer, I received another gift from my closest cousin who was visiting for some beach time. It was a giant chunk of Greek feta cheese; completely melt in your mouth pleasure. I decided with the last days of summer upon me, to combine these two generous presents with the hope to break my failure streak. I believe I did. I would love to hear if you think so, too.
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 8slices | 2hours |
| Cook Time |
| 45minutes |
|
|
- green tea and chopped eggplant
- 1 tea bag organic green tea
- 8 ounces hot water
- 1 medium eggplant
- 1 clove garlic, peeled
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/8 tsp salt
- pie crust
- 1 cup (140g) all-purpose organic flour
- 1/2 tsp granulated organic sugar
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 6 tbsp organic unsalted butter
- 3 tbsp cold green tea
- pie
- 1 14 inch pie crust
- 1/3 cup chopped eggplant see above
- 2 large tomatoes, sliced
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
- 6 ounces feta cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1/2 tbsp honey
- 1 egg white
- 1 tbsp heavy cream
- One day prior to baking, bake eggplant and brew green tea. This can also be done in the morning and then bake the pie later in the day.
- Brew strong green tea using one organic green tea bag and 8 ounces of hot water. Steep for 25 minutes. Pour into a glass jar with lid and refrigerate until ready to use. You’ll only need 3 tablespoons of this tea; the rest is perfect for sipping on while baking pie.
- Prepare chopped eggplant. Preheat over to 400°F. Wash eggplant and poke with a two-pronged fork all over. Place whole eggplant in a small baking pan lined with aluminum foil. Bake for 25 minutes, then turn eggplant over and bake an additional 20 minutes until tender and soft. Test this by inserting the two-pronged fork; it should go in easily. Baking time may be a little longer depending on the eggplant’s size.
- Remove baked eggplant from oven and while still in baking dish, slice in half lengthwise. Pry open a bit with fork and cool for about 20 minutes.
- When eggplant has cooled enough to touch, cut away some of the seeds with a small, sharp paring knife. Scoop out flesh, cutting away from skin and place in a shallow mixing bowl. Add garlic clove, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt.
- Chop eggplant with other ingredients with a hand vegetable chopper. This can also be done in a food processor but only pulse to blend. Eggplant mixture should be smooth, but not pureed. Taste and add a bit more olive oil, lemon juice, and/or salt as desired.
- Place chopped eggplant into a covered container and refrigerate until ready to make pie. There will be left over of this as well, so enjoy as a little snack with a cracker or piece of rye bread.
- Crust requires refrigeration for at least one hour prior to baking but can be also be made the day before and stay refrigerated until ready to use.
- About 20 minutes prior to making crust, take butter out of refrigerator. Divide in half.
- Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a shallow, medium sized mixing bowl. Slice 3 tablespoons of butter into ½ inch chunks and add to flour mixture. Place the remaining 3 tablespoons butter back in refrigerator until ready to use.
- Combine flour mixture and first half butter by cutting with a pastry blender or using your fingers until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add remaining 3 tablespoons of butter, also cut into ½ inch chunks, but this time leave some of the butter in larger marble size chunks.
- Drizzle 2 tablespoons cold green tea over flour and butter mixture then toss a few times with a fork. Add remaining tablespoon and stir gently with fork to moisten, should still look crumbly.
- Gather up into ball and turn out onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Wrap loosely and knead dough 2 or 3 times through plastic wrap. Flatten to disc. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
- When ready to bake pie, remove crust from refrigerator for a few minutes before rolling. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (Preferably use baking sheet without sides, but if you don’t have one as I don’t, roll just a bit smaller.)
- Lightly flour a flat work surface and rolling pin. Roll crust to 14 inch round. Transfer to lined baking sheet. Measure a two-inch border and lightly mark with the tip of a knife. Sprinkle a bit of flour over top of crust.
- Spread a thin layer of chopped eggplant on crust, leaving two-inch border.
- Slice tomatoes into ¼ inch slices and arrange in single layer on top of chopped eggplant. Drizzle olive oil over tomatoes and then salt and pepper.
- Sprinkle chopped mint evenly over tomatoes. Arrange feta cheese cubes on top of mint. Sprinkle chopped basil on top and then drizzle with honey.
- Gather up edges of crust border and fold up to enclose filling. Work with about an inch at a time to form a decorative border. Whisk together egg white and cream and brush generously on crust border.
- Bake 45 minutes, checking after 30 minutes to make sure crust is not browning too quickly. If it is, cover edges with aluminum foil and continue to bake.
- Remove from oven and immediately transfer pie from baking sheet to wire rack to cool so bottom does not get soggy.
- Serve warm, sliced like pizza or pie. Garnish with additional basil if desired.
*using organic ingredients when possible will make for more baking more nourishing. For this pie use organic flour, butter, eggs, sugar, tomatoes, eggplant, and herbs if available.
*this pie can be made without the chopped eggplant, spread a thin layer of mustard on crust before proceeding with layers of tomatoes, herbs, and cheese.
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