#112: My 101 Year Old Cottage and Green Tomato Pie

Some History of This 101 Year Old Cottage, Harvest is In, and Recipe for Green Tomato Pie.

A Bit of Pie Cottage History

I have been caretaker of this cottage and land for more than a score of years now. When I moved here in 1999, I was sorely in need of healing and from day one she wrapped her welcoming arms around me. The original house looked to be not much more than a cabin the house inspector said and from neighbors over the years I’ve learned a bit of her history.

One neighbor, who has a wealth of knowledge about our town and county, told me squatters who were Civil War veterans were allotted two parcels of land in my neighborhood, one for their house and one for their garden and orchard. They paid $6 a piece. The piece where I now have a garden and small orchard was once Mr O’Brien’s woodlot. It is also the place where Duncan cuts and splits logs that warm both of our homes. Garden, orchard, woodlot…it seems that we are continuing that history.

GP surveying the garden and young orchard.

This has also been the home to other bakers including Mrs O’Brien, who I have been told was the first to live here. Apparently she would would give freshly baked cookies to the neighborhood kids when they came home from school serving them from her front porch. I wonder if she might be smiling to know that I am the next baker in the line and that I named her home “Pie Cottage.”

A 1963 photo my across the street neighbor took of my little two-tone house before the porch where Mrs O’Brien served cookies was turned into an enclosed entry.

Houses call to us. Small and sweet is what I felt when I walked through the door for the first time with my real estate agent, and it has become a sanctuary and place of peace for me. Like those before me who have called this place home, I am doing my best to maintain and improve this old gal who is now 101 years old. During my watch, I have taken down walls, added windows and French doors to bring in more light, a deck, painted it blue with a raspberry door, and was able to purchase the properties on either side of it, too.

The middle window is where Mrs Murphy’s porch was. An addition on the right was here when I bought the house in 1999. Duncan added the big window on the right in the spring of 2019 as a birthday present to me.

Twice a year I climb up the pull down granny attic stairs to adjust the skylight window in the roof. First, when the days turn warm in the late spring I open it to let the heat out. As I do, I picture a bountiful harvest from the vegetable garden and long summer evenings outside. Then again in the fall when the night time temperatures drop I close it to help keep the heat inside.

I continue to take my morning tea outside on the back deck but need a woolen shawl around my shoulders as I watch the sun come up. When the first frosts arrive I’ll set the first fire of the season in the wood-stove and stay inside, but that’s a ways off yet.

GP’s cozy winter spot.

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Harvest News

The lavender is all harvested and I can check that off my to do list. Friends who stopped in yesterday commented on the lingering fragrance around the house and wafting in my windows. The scented trimmings are in the hen house now and the fluffs seem to be enjoying them, too.

The tomato plants are pulled and all the tomatoes harvested—about twenty pounds or so. Check that off the list, too. This has not been a banner year for the garden as we had a long cold and wet spring with snow and frost well into April. There is enough to make a quart or two of tomato sauce and I’ll fry some for supper tomorrow. I hope to squeeze in a green tomato pie and a casserole to freeze and if there are still some left I’ll slice and put them on parchment covered trays and set them in a low slow oven to dry for soups and stews.

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GREEN TOMATO PIE

It’s surprising how much this filling is like that of an apple pie. I think that you could probably substitute green tomatoes for apples in any basic apple pie recipe and it would be delicious.

What You Will Need for one 9-inch (23 cm) shallow pie

• 1 recipe Roll-Out Dough ( See Recipes, Gluten-Full or Gluten-Free, Here)

• 4 cups (about 1 lb; 460 to 500 g) green tomatoes, skinned (optional)

• 3⁄4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar, plus a few teaspoons for sprinkling on top

• 1⁄4 cup (50 g) brown sugar

• 1 rounded teaspoon cinnamon or more to taste

• 1⁄2 teaspoon allspice

• A pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon good-quality apple cider vinegar (Bragg’s or another artisan apple cider vinegar)

• 1⁄4 cup (25 g) tapioca starch

• Half-and-half for brushing on top

How to Do It

1. Make the pie dough and chill in fridge.

2. Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C).

3. Roll out half the dough, place in the pie pan and place in the fridge to chill while you make the filling.

4. Quarter the tomatoes, cut out and discard most of the firm center core. Slice the tomatoes to a thickness of about 1⁄4 inch (6 mm) and place in a medium bowl.

5. Add the white and brown sugars, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, salt, apple cider vinegar, and tapioca starch. With a spoon, mix to coat well.

6. Turn the tomato filling into the chilled pie pan and return it to the fridge while you roll out the top dough.

7. Lay the rolled out dough on top of the filling, and trim and crimp or flute the edges. Cut some steam vents on top. You can also make a lattice top.

8. Sprinkle the top of the pie with a few teaspoons of sugar and brush with half-and-half.

9. Place in the oven and bake for about 55 minutes. About halfway through the bake, check to make sure the top is not over-browning.

10. Remove from the oven when you see the filling peeking through the edges and vents with some bubbling.

11. Let cool for about an hour. This pie is very good eaten while it is still slightly warm.

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