Green Tomato Pie

Green Tomato Pies

The Sisson's are apart of our family as one of my sisters married into the Sisson clan!  We have all know each other for a lifetime and I can truly say they are a wonderful, fun, and salt of the earth bunch!!!

This recipe comes from Great Great Grandma Sisson and that is as far back as I can trace this recipe.  It has long been a favorite and has been spoken about for as many years back as I can remember.  It is a great use of those green tomatoes hanging around on the vine before the hard freeze.  Or fix it anytime  green tomatoes are available.   Brian picked a bucket of green tomatoes when he took the garden apart last week.  Some have ripened but some are starting to go bad so I need to make these up today and get them to the freezer to enjoy this winter.

The pie looks a bit like mincemeat, is flavored similarly to pumpkin, and has more the consistency of a squash pie.  It's all good!!

Grandma Sisson ALWAYS made these in an 8" aluminum pie pan.  If they were to be frozen she baked them and wrapped them well in aluminum foil and froze them.  To serve the frozen version of this pie you place it frozen pie in a 350 degree oven and bake 45 minutes or until it has warmed throughout.

Here's the recipe:
2 C. chopped fine green tomatoes
1 1/2 C. sugar
2 rounded T. flour
1/2 t. Cinnamon
1/4 t. cloves
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. allspice
2 T. vinegar or lemon juice
2 T. butter
2 unbaked pie crusts

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
You may want to use an electric chopper to fine chop the green tomatoes.  Sprinkle them with 1/4 t. salt and let them sit while making the pie pastry.

Make your favorite pie pastry dough.  Form into two disks and roll the bottom crust and place it in the pie plate.  Set it aside and roll the second crust to be ready to top the pie.  After this is completed drain the tomatoes and salt by pressing the mixture into a colander and squeezing off most of the moisture.  Using a mixing bowl stir together the tomato, sugar, flour, and spices.  (My sister says she has used pumpkin pie spice as a substitute for the listed spices and it turns out well too.)  Add the vinegar or lemon juice and stir altogether well.   Spread the filling into the unbaked shell and dot with butter.  Cover the pie with a slotted second crust or lattice and bake at 375 degrees F for 45-50 minutes.

This pie tends to run over so I line a baking sheet with heavy duty foil for easy clean up.  Because I am using 8" foil pie pans and the are a little flimsy I also tear a additional piece of foil about 9" deep and 28" wide and center the unfilled bottom crust on it.  This acts as a sling to move the pie about, or remove it from the oven without breaking the crust edges or having it cave inward.   Today I have made 3 pies and this has been very useful.

Hope you enjoy the recipe.   We sure do and thanks to the Sisson's for sharing!!