The Friday Pie Slice: Homemade Bagel Edition

1st slice. I love making homemade bagels and Peter Reinhart's recipe via Smitten Kitchen has never failed me. I generally stick to the classics-- sesame seed, poppy seed, salt, and everything-- but tend to go wild with different flavored butters and cream cheeses.

2nd slice. I shared my Pimento Cheese and Tomato Pie recipe and some Green Tomato Pie history in the Washington Post Express this week. Find the recipe here and article here.

3rd slice. If you're making pimento cheese, you're going to need some mayo. Chefs share their penchant for Duke's Mayonnaise, accompanied with illustrations by my friend Emily Wallace, in Garden & Gun.

The tasty crumbs. SAVEUR recently profiled Indiana Sugar Cream Pie. Find Hoosier Mama's recipe here.

Pimento Cheese and Tomato Pie

I first made this Pimento Cheese and Tomato Pie when I was in grad school at the University of North Carolina. My friend Emily Wallace (the other Emily Elizabeth) was writing her Master's thesis on the history of pimento cheese and we wanted to combine our two food loves into one dish for a potluck at our professor Marcie Cohen Ferris' class.

I wasn't too familiar with pimento cheese until I moved to North Carolina. I'd had casual encounters with the stuff--at potlucks and in tubs at the grocery store--but without context, the mixture of cheddar cheese, pimentos, and mayonnaise just seemed like a sad deconstructed cheese ball to this Midwesterner. But I came to the Piedmont at just the right time for some pimento cheese schooling. Not only was the iconic sandwich spread becoming a trend across the U.S., appearing in everything from cheesecake to jalapeno poppers, but my fellow Emily Elizabeth was deeply entrenched in a study of pimento cheese's cultural history--which happened to hit upon some of my own research interests like women's domestic creativity and entrepreneurship.

According to Emily in this Indy Week article, pimento cheese was considered a dainty treat across the nation at the turn of the 20th century. Finger sandwiches made with the spread were a delicacy, particularly because the Spanish-imported pimentos were expensive and hard to come by. By 1915, Kraft had processed the spread and farmers began to grow their own pimentos stateside. 

In the Piedmont of North and South Carolina, textile mills offered lunches from dope carts, which sold sandwiches with various spreads, including pimento cheese. Soon small companies, often with women at the helm, supplied the food carts with sandwiches. Wallace says, "These women used food as a means to escape the drudgery of home or other unwanted employment, such as a textile mill. And pimento cheese—food that was considered part of a women's domestic domain—was a window not only into work but also business ownership, financial independence, and creativity in ways that were nonthreatening to gender roles of the time."

Now I eat my pimento cheese, whether as a sandwich, on my grits, or in a pie, with pride, knowing that it traces back to a long line of enterprising women, sure, but also because it tastes damn good. This pie recipe came to us from our friend April McGreger of Farmer's Daughter Brand Pickles and Preserves. She adapted it from The Southern Foodways Alliance's Community Cookbook. Though best with fresh tomatoes, it's become a Pi(e) Day staple and was included in this article on Pi(e) Day and female friendship that my friend Lora Smith and I wrote for Ronni Lundy's Zenchilada. 

Pimento Cheese and Tomato Pie

Adapted from The Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook via April McGreger

Ingredients
Nothing in the House pie crust, halved
20 oz. tomatoes (canned whole San Marzanos or fresh)
2 Tablespoons fresh basil leaves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 1/4 cups prepared pimento cheese
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs or Ritz cracker crumbs
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1/8 teaspoon garlic, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon parmesan cheese, grated
Fresh ground pepper

Directions
For the crust:
1. Prepare half of the Nothing-in-the-House pie crust as per the directions. Chill dough at least 1 hour before rolling out and fitting into a greased and floured 9-inch pie pan. Place pie plate in fridge for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Once you've let the pie crust chill, prick crust with a fork all over the bottom. Line crust with parchment paper and pie weights or dried beans and bake for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, remove weights, reduce temperature to 350 degrees F and bake until crust is golden brown, about 20 minutes more. Let crust cool completely and leave oven on for the tomatoes.

For the filling:
1. Drain the tomatoes (if using canned--and keep the juice for Bloody Marys!) and dice them into 1-inch pieces. In a medium bowl combine the tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper, and half of the olive oil. Toss with your hands until all the tomatoes have a little oil on them. Pour the remaining half of the olive oil onto a sheet pan, rubbing with your hands to coat the bottom of the pan. Spread the tomatoes on the pan in a single layer. Roast the tomatoes in the oven about 15 minutes or until they dry up a little and start to shrivel slightly.

2. Fill the bottom of the pie crust with the tomato mixture. Spread the prepared pimento cheese over the tomatoes. In a small bowl, toss bread or Ritz cracker crumbs with melted butter, garlic, parmesan cheese and pepper, and sprinkle over the top of the pie.

3. Place pie in oven 10-15 minutes, just enough to warm and brown the crumb top. Remove from oven and serve slightly warm.

I've been making Stephanie of 3191's recipe for Pimento Cheese for a few years now--it's become a New Year's Eve tradition (served with Sweet Potato Biscuits) that my family now requests. But I wanted to include Emily Wallace's grandmother recipe--which is also delicious and shows some of the variation in style. Of course in North & South Carolina you're pretty much required to make it with Duke's mayonnaise--if you do make it with Hellmann's or another sweet mayo, I might not include the sugar.

Pimento Cheese
Adapted from Charlotte Heavner Wallace's (Emily Wallace's grandmother) recipe

Ingredients
1 lb. sharp cheddar (Charlotte used red-rind hoop cheese)
1 4-oz. jar pimentos, diced
4 Tablespoons mayonnaise (Duke's recommended)
1/2 teaspoon mustard
2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon sugar
Dash vinegary hot sauce, like Cholula or Tapatio

Directions
1. Grate cheese into a medium-sized bowl and add entire contents of pimento jar. Mix with a wooden spoon. Add other ingredients and stir to combine. Taste and add any more of the above ingredients according to your preference.



Related recipes:
Phoebe Lawless' Rustic Cheese Pie
Savory Heirloom Tomato-Ricotta Galette
Tomato, Bacon & Jalapeno Pie

Last photo by Mackenzie Smith from Pi(e) Day 2014

D.C. Pi(e) Day 2013!

Ah yes, Pi(e) Day. Though I've been celebrating for 5 consecutive years now, I still have those moments, in the midst of publicizing and wheeling a cart full of Whole Foods-donated butter down the street (no wait, that was awesome), coordinating and baking for three days straight, where I wonder why I'm doing it. But then the ol' 3.14 rolls around, and the homemade pies and bakers start to show up, the guests arrive, and we all gorge on pie, work it off in a pi(e) walk/dance, raise a bunch of money for a good cause, and it's all really inspiring and fun and totally worth it. That being said, the next day I did make a beeline to the woods of Virginia for an unplugged cabin weekend getaway with some gal pals. But I'm back and ready to write about it and even starting to think about making pie again...

This year's Pi(e) Day was a benefit for Common Good City Farm, a DC-based urban farm and sustainable agriculture non-profit that employees teens during the summer and coordinates other local food-based programming. Because we encourage local and seasonal produce in the pies we make for Pi(e) Day, I thought it would be nice to bring this connection full circle (with a circumference of 2piR). Elizabeth and Anita, employees at the farm, were wonderful to work with and contributed pies, loaned tables, and were a big help with press and recruiting volunteers.

As was the case last year too, we got some really wonderful press leading up to the event. It was posted on various pages of the Washington Post and the Express, was blurbed on The Huffington Post, Daily Candy, ScoutMob, BYT, and lots of local blogs. American Food Roots even did this sweet little piece in which I make a pie nerd cameo. After all of this came out and we had well over 100 attending on Facebook, I once again started to worry if we'd have enough pie.

But we did--at least for a good part of the evening. I actually lost count of how many, but I'm pretty sure it was well over 30, with some arriving slowly but surely for much-needed reinforcements when other plates had been cleaned. There was Chile Relleño Pie and Blueberry Ginger Pie, Bourbon Bacon Pecan Pie and Aztec Chocolate Chess Pie, Peanut Butter Honeycomb Pie and Vegan Spaghetti Pie and many more. I made 2 Hoosier Sugar Cream Pies, 2 Butterscotch Meringue Pies, Pimento Cheese-Tomato Pie, Pear & Cardamom Fig Pie, a Chocolate Mousse and Hazelnut Tart, a Peanut Butter Chess Pie, and Chocolate Ganache & Almond Tartlets. I'll post the recipes for just about all of them soon. Though I can't vouch for everything, all the pies I tried were delicious.



In addition to all those pies, the evening was set off by the ladies of The Runcible Spoon, who hawked their fancifully collaged food zines and led an AMAZING "What Time Is It? Pi(e) Time!" watch-making craft! I kept mine on for 2 days so it would always be 3:14. Other highlights were when Star, the managing director at The Dunes handed me a beer as soon as I'd finished setting up (she read my mind even before I knew what I was thinking!), the dance-worthy jams by DJ Dianamatic, Carrie Nation, and Bottle Rocket, and the end-of-the-night Pi(e) Walk led by the surprise emcee Grant Dickie! I tried to get people to soul-train for the jar of whipped cream, but to no avail. I don't know why, though, because that jar was beautiful.

All in all, it was a very fun celebration of community, local food, and homemade pie, all in the lofted and light-filled space of The Dunes (the bar helped too). We had about 140 people in attendance and raised almost $900 for Common Good City Farm! We were also part of a network of friends across the country hosting Pi(e) Day events, including Berenbaums in Durham, NC, Dale's Fried Pies in Knoxville, TN, more friends in Harrisonburg, VA, and my aunt Chantelle in South Bend, IN. They were all celebrating pie, math, and community for good causes, even if it was just getting together with a few friends. Though the Obamas didn't come (I invited them), I'd still call it quite a success.

I'd like to extend a very special thanks to our Pi(e) Day 2013 Baking Team of Amy, Anita, Bradley, Carolyn, Catherine, Claire, Elizabeth, Emily, Felicity (pictured above, top photo), Jared, Jenelle, Katy, Kara, Kari, Kiran, Liz, Miranda (pictured above, bottom photo), Samantha, Tamara, Teeny, and Yael. Special thanks also to DJs Dianamatic, Carrie Nation, and Bottlerocket, The Dunes, Whole Foods on P St. for donating ingredients, The Runcible Spoon, and Common Good City Farm for being such great partners. And thanks to everyone who came and ate, busted a move in the Pi(e) Walk, and supported local agriculture in our nation's capital. Only 359 days left 'til Pi(e) Day 2014!

But if you haven't had enough this year, make sure to check out the blogs of Pi(e) Day 2013 Baking Team members Catherine, Kari, and Teeny for more DC Pi(e) Day posts and recipes!

Our "Revolution is Round" in Zenchilada!

A few months ago, Ronni Lundy, author of Shuck Beans, Stack Cakes, and Honest Fried Chicken and Southern Foodways Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award winner, asked if my friend Lora and I would contribute an article on Pi(e) Day to Zenchilada, the online culinary magazine Lundy edits with Patricia West-Barker. We wrote the piece as two friends in conversation and used pie as a lens to discuss our ideas of female friendship, tradition, and the domestic arts, all topics we often talk about when we are baking and cooking together in real life.

Zenchilada also used three of the recipes we used in last year's Pi(e) Day-- lemon goat cheese tart with blackberry preserves, avocado pie, and pimento cheese and tomato pie-- as featured recipes in the journal. Wow, they look good when made and photographed by their professional chefs, food stylists, and photographers!


We are so honored to have our words and photos featured in the Winter 2011 issue of Zenchilada. You can read the entire article and photographs here and see our recipe pages starting here. And while your at it, read the rest of the issue. It's excellent and delicious!

Pi(e) Day on the Piedmont

Here at Nothing-In-The-House, we've been celebrating pi(e) day, 3.14, for a few years now, and though I haven't been to any of the amazing TX pi(e) day parties, Pi(e) Day has never been as beautiful, full-force, or fun as this year's celebration.

My friend Lora lives and works at Celebrity Dairy Goat Farm in Siler City, NC. Awhile back we got to talkin' about a pie party, and she generously suggested (and offered to host!) that we have our Pi(e) Day celebration out at the Dairy where we could enjoy the industrial kitchen, comforts of the inn, adorable baby goats, and spring peeper chorus, out in the Chatham County country.

Most of the baking team gathered at the inn the evening before, where we made a large batch of pie dough and some of the icebox pies, then ate tacos, crackers and goat cheese, drank wine, played Exquisite Corpse and sang songs late into the night.


The next morning, the kitchen was abuzz with the 13 member baking team as we rolled dough, chopped fruit, whipped cream, and fluted crusts.

forks await folks

Altogether we made 26 pies, and not a bad one in the bunch. In fact, they were all delicious (at least the ones I tried, which was close to most). Lora made fresh goat's milk ice cream to top them off. Here are a few pie portraits, but for a list of all of them with their respective bakers, plus additional words and photos, see Lora's blog post here.

Brooke's delicious lemon goat cheese tart w. Lora's blackberry preserves, recipe here

Lora's Kentucky Pie

I tried my hand at this tart, from Michel Roux's Pastry

Shoofly! Don't Bother Me Pie by Lora

April's (of Farmer's Daughter) Sweet Potato Muscadine Pie

My Avocado Coconut Pie (vegan) recipe here

Pimento Cheese Tomato Pie by Emily Wallace, the day's favorite and first to go!

About 40 friends came out to the farm to help us enjoy the pies and the beautiful spring day. We gave away 2 pies in our pi(e) walk (walked in circle of circumference 2pi(e)r), done with live old-time music accompaniment.

Bill goes back for round 4

Do The Pie Walk

Molly, age 11, the youngest baker, made this video, documenting the day.

After the crowds departed and all the pie dishes were washed, the remaining few settled in for a relaxing porch sit, and viewing of hobo-movie Sullivan's Travels, which, though it had no hobo window sill-pie-snatching chase scene, did have two mentions of pie.

We did indeed have pie for breakfast the next day. 3.15, the (p)ides of March.

Thank you SO much to our team of bakers: Emily W, Chris, Lora, Shannon (who all also took photos), Ashley, Whitney, Brooke, Mary, Zans, Molly, Joe, and April with VERY BIG THANKS to Lora and Joe who really made the event possible.

Pimento Cheese and Tomato Pie

A few weeks ago, Emily, Erica and I got together for '3-E Baking Wednesday.' Emily and I had to make something for the Foodways class potluck at our Prof. Marcie Ferris' home. We decided to combine our two respective loves--pimento cheese, a Southern specialty (Emily W. is writing her Folklore Master's thesis on it), and pie. Our friend April McGreger shared the recipe with us:

Pimento Cheese and “Put Up” Tomato Pie

This pie is a riff on a church cookbook standard simply called “tomato pie”. Usually made in the summer with fresh tomatoes, this tart takes on a more robust personality by utilizing home canned tomatoes and roasting them. It is a good way to enjoy tomatoes in the off season.

Ingredients
9” Pie Crust - that has been pre-baked to golden brown
20 oz. tomatoes (either home canned or quality store bought—like San Marzanos)
1/4 C. olive oil
2 Tblsp. fresh thyme (or you can use basil or marjoram)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 1/4 C. prepared pimento cheese (we made our using Emily's grandma's recipe + a hint of Sriracha)
1/3 C. Ritz crackers broken into small, rough pieces (about the size of a dime) (We used panko tossed in a little melted butter, a pinch of chopped garlic, a little parm, and a pinch of s&p)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F

2. Drain the tomatoes (keep the juice for the Bloody Marys!) and dice them into 1 inch pieces. In a medium bowl, combine the tomatoes, thyme, salt, pepper and half the olive oil by tossing with your hands until all of the tomatoes have a little oil on them. 

3. Pour half of the oil onto a sheet pan, rubbing with your hands to coat the bottom of the pan and then spread the tomatoes on the pan to form a single layer. Roast the tomatoes in the oven for about 15 minutes until they dry up a little and start to shrivel slightly. 

4. Fill the pie crust ¾ full with the tomato mixture. Spread pimento cheese over the top of the tomatoes. Sprinkle with prepared bread crumb topping.

This was a real cheesy indulgence, but got great reviews at the potluck. Next time I would make it with more tomatoes and a little less salt (I think we may have added too much to the pimento cheese).

We also made mini vinegar pies--an old Great Plains recipe of the "nothing-in-the-house pie"/"adversity pie"/ "desperation pie" genre which served as a lemon-custard substitution in times of hardship. I unfortunately forgot to take pictures of them, so I'll make it again soon and give a full report.

UPDATED Pimento Cheese and Tomato Pie Recipe here