Green Tomato Pie

Green tomato pie is the resourceful Southern answer to the inevitable bushel of unripe tomatoes left on the vine when frost threatens. Rather than letting them go to waste, generations of gardeners have turned them into a sweet, tart dessert pie that’s somewhere between apple and rhubarb in flavor, but distinctly its own thing.

The trick to great green tomato pie is layering. The recipe calls for arranging tomato slices in layers, sprinkling sugar mixture between each layer, then dotting with butter. This patient assembly is what creates the proper sweet-tart balance throughout the filling, rather than just on top. Skip the layering and you end up with sweet at the top, sour at the bottom.

Allspice is the warm-spice secret. Just a quarter teaspoon brings the kind of cozy, almost-clove note that makes the pie taste like it took longer to make than it did. Lemon rind and lemon juice provide the acidity that complements the natural tartness of the green tomatoes.

Use firm, unripe green tomatoes. They should be solid green with no hint of red or pink, otherwise the texture goes soft and the flavor moves toward conventional tomato. Peel them; the skins toughen during baking and become unpleasant.

The lattice top is more than aesthetic. It allows steam to escape during baking, preventing the filling from boiling over and keeping the bottom crust from going soggy.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream for the proper Southern Sunday-supper finish.

Pro Tips

• Slice tomatoes uniformly, about ¼-inch thick. Mixed sizes cook unevenly and you get some mushy, some still firm.
• Drain sliced tomatoes in a colander for 10 minutes before assembling. Excess water makes a soggy filling and a wet bottom crust.
• Use a glass or ceramic pie pan rather than metal. Metal can react with the acidic filling and impart a metallic taste.
• Brush the lattice with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar for a bakery-style golden, crackly top.
• Cool at least 2 hours before slicing. Warm pie filling is too liquid; cooling lets it set up for clean cuts.

Variations

• Add ½ cup of raisins or chopped dates between layers for added sweetness and chew.
• Substitute cinnamon for allspice for a more apple-pie-like flavor.
• Stir 1 tablespoon of bourbon into the filling for a grown-up Southern twist.