Salsa Verde Pie

Happy World Food Day! This is also known as World Bread Day. I’m not actually posting a bread recipe today (my new apple bread recipe is still locked in the sick laptop). If readers want to join bakers all over the world in making bread, I recommend the warm, moist pumpkin bread recipe I posted last year at about this time.

Meanwhile, this slightly spicy pie should help you celebrate the larger holiday in appropriately green fashion. I don't want to seem frivolous; I know WFD is actually about hunger awareness. YOU won't be hungry after eating your pie, but please take some time this week and every week to contribute to a food bank or a cause that feeds the hungry.

When life gives you tomatillos, make salsa………

My neighbors Sally and David Rich were clearing out their garden recently and shared part of their tomatillo harvest with me. One doesn’t think of tomatillos as growing in New England, but Sally produced a bumper crop!

I started out to make salsa verde, but when the weather took a cold turn I decided to throw my green sauce into a quiche. Luckily, I was invited to a dinner party at my friend Chas’s house so my mother and I didn’t have to absorb all the calories in this tasty, cheesy pie.

Ingredients:

for the green sauce:

2 cups halved tomatillos (remove and discard the husks first and rinse the tomatillos to remove stickiness!)
1 jalpeño pepper, chopped (more if desired; my pie wasn’t very spicy)
1 large or 2 small cloves garlic, finely minced
several sprigs of cilantro
the juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 teaspoon salt (or a little more to taste)

for the quiche:

1 9-inch single pie crust
1 medium bell pepper, cut into thin slices
a small amount of butter for sautéing
1-1/ 2 cups grated store cheese (plus a little more if you just adore cheese)
the green sauce
4 eggs
1-1/2 cups cream

Instructions:

First, make the salsa verde. Roast the tomatillo halves under the broiler until they begin to brown, 5 to 7 minutes, stirring once or twice. (Watch them!)

Remove them from the oven and let them cool.

In a blender or food processor, combine the roasted tomatillos with all the other ingredients, and puree. If you want to keep the salsa as plain salsa, you'll have just under 1 cup.

If you prefer to make the pie, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Set aside a few pepper slices for garnish. Sauté the remaining pieces in the butter until they just begin to soften. Place them on the pie crust. Cover them with the cheese.

In a bowl, whisk together the green sauce and eggs. Whisk in the cream, and quickly pour the mixture onto the pie shell. Bake the quiche for 15 minutes.

Decorate the top of the pie with the remaining pepper slices and reduce the heat to 350 degrees. Bake the pie until the custard begins to set, 30 to 40 minutes more.

Serves 6.