Green Tomato Pie + Kids Farm to Table Camp

"Where do potatoes grow?" That's how last week started for me. I had the opportunity to work at a kids farm to table camp, hosted by The Cook's Farm, which is run by the owners of my favorite local restaurant, Harvest on Main. It was a week full of dirt, tomatoes, beet juice stains and smiles.



Each day, we headed down to the garden to pick what we were having for lunch that day. Potatoes, beets, corn, carrots, tomatoes, each vegetable was dug up or picked off the vine by the kids. I loosened up dirt so they could yank up carrots, smiling at the giggles when they realized a huge carrot top didn't equal a huge carrot.

"This purple one, it's a carrot too? I thought they were supposed to be orange!" It is!



We'd head to the kitchen, dirt on our hands, (and faces, and pants, everywhere!). The kids would scrub & peel, chop & whisk. We made potato salad, frittata with fresh eggs, tomato salad. Corn salsa, quiche, pie. Something new each day. Everything fresh from the garden.







They picked blueberries for smoothies, popping more in their mouths than into their bowls.



"Can we feed the chickens?" "Can we collect the eggs?!" had to be the words I heard most. They'd sit down outside the coop and feed them through the wire, holding up tomatoes so the chickens could peck. "This one is greedy!" they'd laugh. "Oh, they don't like the green tomatoes." They learned how to shoo away roosting chickens to grab warm eggs.




The kids loved tasting each thing they had made & picked. The last day, the parents came for lunch.

The kids picked sunflowers & cosmos from the garden, arranged them in mason jars and set the table. They took their parents on tours of the gardens and told them all about what they had learned.  Then, we all enjoyed the fruits of their labor. And it was delicious!

Seeing these kids so excited about food & where it comes from was inspiring. Little ones holding chickens & digging in the dirt? Bliss.

This recipe is my favorite from the week - and the kids too. It tastes a bit like apple pie, but with a tang from the green tomatoes. If you can get a hold of some, it's fantastic with honey comb. If not, vanilla ice cream works well.

Green Tomato Pie
recipe by Michelle at Harvest

1 Basic Tart/Pie Crust (this one is my favorite.)

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 cups finely chopped green tomatoes
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Make the pie crust and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Divide the dough in half. Place 1 piece of the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out to an 11-inch circle, about 1/8-inch thick. Transfer to a 9-inch pie pan. Trim the crust with scissors or a sharp knife to within 1/2-inch of the outer rim.

In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the flour mixture across the bottom of the prepared piecrust.

Add the tomatoes and lemon juice to the bowl with the remaining flour mixture and toss to coat. Spoon the tomato mixture into the pie shell, and dot with the butter.

Placed remaining crust on top of the tomato filling and tuck the overlapping crusts into the pan, forming a thick edge. Crimp the edges to seal and cut small 1/2-inch long vents in a decorative pattern along the top crust. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of sugar.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F. Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes.