Tomato and Cheese Pie

September 2, 2019Foodbasil, clean food, garden produce, home cooking, keto, real food, summertime, Tomatoarthurized Leave a comment

HoldingOntoSummerAsLongAsPossible is an annual event in our home. I’m not dying to bundle up in sweaters and boots just yet. While the summer produce is still rolling in, let’s give this savory pie a little love, shall we? This dish should really be named Tomato Basil Pie because the ricotta and parmesan take a back seat to the fresh flavors of the basil and tomato. It’s easy to whip together, and makes a nice breakfast or brunch side dish.

Tomato and Cheese Pie
adapted from The Supermarket Diet Cookbook
Prep: 20 Minutes
Bake: 30 Minutes
Makes: 4 Servings
1 container (15 ounces) ricotta cheese
4 large eggs
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. salt, plus additional for sprinkling
1/8 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper, plus additional for sprinkling
1/4 cup milk
1 T. cornstarch – I use arrowroot powder
1 cup packed fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 pound ripe tomatoes (three medium), thinly sliced

The top three eggs are pastured, the egg on the bottom is “cage free”. Notice the difference in the yolk color! Totally subjective, but we think pastured egg yolks have a richer flavor.

1) Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, with whisk or fork, beat ricotta, eggs, Parmesan, salt and pepper until blended.

I used purple basil because it has the most traditional basil flavor of the three types that I planted this year. I don’t think lime basil or Thai basil would be tasty in this recipe!

2) In cup, with fork, stir milk and cornstarch (arrowroot) until blended; whisk into cheese mixture. Stir in basil. Pour mixture into 9 inch glass or ceramic pie plate. Arrange tomatoes on top, overlapping if necessary. Sprinkle tomatoes with salt and pepper.

3) Bake pie until lightly browned around edge and center is puffed, 30 to 35 minutes.

Enjoy! Happy Labor Day!

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Preserving Fresh Basil -Trial and Error, and More Trial

July 24, 2019Food, gardenbasil, gardening, herb garden, preserving herbs, producearthurized 1 Comment

Last weekend I harvested our first large batch of basil. Because there is no way we can use this much fresh basil in a timely fashion, I decided to try my hand at preserving it. The first method I’m using is to simply dehydrate it.

I don’t have a fancy schmancy dehydrator, but it’s been blisteringly hot and sunny here lately, so I decided to put the weather to good use. I washed the basil really well and picked it off the stem. Mind-numbing work, right there.

Then, using freshly scrubbed window screens, I simply laid the leaves in a single layer and topped it with another screen to keep bugs out. My plan was to leave this in the sun for a few hours and collect my dried leaves, crush them and store them in an airtight glass jar.

Mother Nature had other plans. While Mark and I were spreading the basil on the screen, we heard thunder rumbling in the distance.

Within a few minutes, we were moving the basil onto our covered porch and scrambling for cover ourselves. Not to worry, we figured we’d just wait until the storm rolled through and put the basil back out when the sunshine returned.

Guess what didn’t come back for three days? Yep. My solar basil dehydrator is kaput. We’re trying to salvage this batch by drying it in the basement where we run a dehumidifier 24/7. We’ll see if this works. Gardening (like life) is all one giant experiment, right?

For the second preserving method, I’m freezing a small batch of clean, destemmed and blanched purple basil in olive oil. The blanching process goes like this: Dip the basil into boiling water for two seconds (yes, two!), and transfer it immediately into an ice bath. I used a large, mesh strainer as my scoop for this process.

After blanching the basil, I chopped it finely in the food processor and spooned it into ice cube trays. Add a splash of olive oil to cover, and into the freezer it goes. Once the cubes were frozen solid, I popped them out of the tray and into a freezer bag. These basil cubes are perfect for adding to soups, sauces and homemade salad dressings.

I’m planning to experiment with oven drying fresh herbs later in the growing season. But while it’s hotter than blue blazes in Virginia, I’ll do nearly anything to avoid heating up the house.

If you have a favorite method for preserving herbs, leave a comment. I’d love to hear about it!

Succession Planting Herbs

May 29, 2019gardenbasil, cilantro, flat leaf italian parsley, garden with kids, herb garden, herbs, home gardening, lime basil, seeds, succession planting, thai basilarthurized 3 Comments

Succession planting is simply sowing seeds at intervals so that you have a constant supply of produce. In years past, I’ve made halfhearted attempts at succession planting our gardens. I’ve never made a planting schedule and stuck to it. This year I’m sowing seeds at two week intervals, so that we can enjoy our favorite herbs throughout the growing season.

Purple Basil. But you could’ve guessed that!

I’ve planted cilantro, flat leaf Italian parsley and three varieties of basil; lime, purple and Thai. These are all familiar plants except the lime and Thai basil. I try to plant about a dozen seeds each time, because we tend to pick small batches.

My method isn’t very organized but it seems to be working. Every two weeks I wander out to the garden, seeds in hand, and find a little patch of soil near the previous plantings. I pull the mulch back with a hand rake and loosen up the surface of the amended soil underneath. After carefully placing the seeds over the loosened soil, I sprinkle bagged garden soil over them to the recommended planting depth. Basil takes 1/8″ of soil and the parsley and cilantro require 1/4″ of soil covering.

Once I’ve pressed the new soil down lightly; I water the planting area, taking care not to wash the seeds away. Unless we get a nice, overnight rain shower, I water every morning. If the weather is unseasonably hot or dry, my planting beds get a second drink of water in the early afternoon. After the seedlings sprout and the plants are established, I water according to the directions on the seed packet.

Just look at those babies in circle two!

I hope you will give this project a try. If you do, I’d love to hear from you! Comment here or email me at arthurized dot home at gmail dot com.

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