I’m hooked on turning summer’s fresh vegetables into savory pies (I suppose there are worse vices). Think quiche—only packed with tons more vegetables and lighter on the eggy richness (and calories).
I recently shared my recipe for Improved Summer Corn & Tomato Pie with a friend on Facebook, as a way to convince him that it’s totally worth the very minimal effort to make your own crust for a savory vegetable pie. The trick is stirring together the dry and wet ingredients right in the pie plate and pressing the crumbly mixture into place. My super-easy and delicious savory no-roll pie crust recipe includes cornmeal for crunch and olive oil for flavor. My Facebook friend whipped up his own pie crust and loved how easy and tasty it was.
That no-roll pie crust is the base for this new recipe, which I adapted from a Saveur recipe that I spotted recently. I tinkered with the binding ingredients, and added bacon—well, because bacon makes any vegetable that much tastier.
Next week, I’ll be onto the corn and tomato pie—this week, I’m in love with this zucchini pie recipe!
summery zucchini, bacon and ricotta pie in no-roll crust recipe
serves 6
for the no-roll pie crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. cold milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil (or canola or grapeseed oil)
1/4 cup olive oil
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a 9-inch pie plate, whisk together the flour, cornmeal and salt. In a measuring cup, combine the milk, vegetable oil and olive oil. Pour the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture and stir with a fork. When the mixture becomes crumbly and hard to stir, use your hands to completely combine the mixture so no loose flour remains. Press the crumbs into place, starting with the bottom and working up the sides. Bake the pie shell for 12 minutes; remove from the oven and let cool.
for the vegetable filling:
2 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (optional)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3 zucchini, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced into half-moons
½ cup grated asiago or Parmesan cheese
½ cup ricotta
3 eggs, beaten
½ cup chopped parsley
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. In a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until it's crispy; transfer to a plate lined with paper towel, and drain off any rendered fat from the pan. In the same skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat until it shimmers; reduce heat to medium and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until the onion softens and turns translucent, about 7 minutes. Transfer the onion to a large bowl. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet; add the garlic and zucchini and cook, stirring, until the zucchini begins to soften, about 7 minutes. Transfer the vegetables to a bowl and let cool. In a small bowl, whisk together the asiago, ricotta, eggs and parsley. Stir into the vegetable mixture; season well with salt and pepper. Transfer the filling to the pre-baked pie shell. Bake the zucchini pie for 40–45 minutes, until the filling is set and lightly browned on top. Serve warm or at room temperature.
This and the tomato/corn pie sound great!