Tomato Pie ::

Great stuff, especially this time of year!

Ingredients:

1 9" pie shell (I got the cheap frozen one from the Wal-Mart)
3 or 4 ripe tomatoes
1 onion (I would have preferred Vidalia, but all I had was yellow)
12 large fresh Basil leaves
1 cup mayonnaise (I used the light kind)
1 cup Mozzarella cheese
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup crumbled bacon or browned hot sausage (Jimmy Dean!)
salt and pepper to taste (I always prefer sea salt and coarse ground black pepper)

I took the pie shell, after thawing, and put it in a 350° oven for about 10 minutes just to brown it a bit.

I sliced the tomatoes and put them in a colander to drain while I thinly sliced the onion. During the summer I always grow Basil so I went outside and whacked off 12 large leaves and chopped them finely. I put the onions on the pie shell followed by a full layer of tomatoes. I found that 3 tomatoes were enough. I then sprinkled the fresh Basil over the tomatoes followed by salt and pepper and either the crumbled bacon or browned sausage.

I mixed the mayonnaise, Mozzarella and Parmesan well in a bowl and covered the top of the pie with this mixture. This was then put in a 350° oven for between 45 minutes and one hour. When it was done I let it cool for 10 or 15 minutes before slicing.

For the vegetarians in the audience the bacon and sausage can be easily eliminated. I also found that 3 or 4 ripe tomatoes are too many unless you go with a deep crust which I’m getting ready to do. About 1 ½ tomato seems to work well for one pie with the 9” pie crust. I also got an e-mail from a friend outside Charleston, S.C. who does pretty much the same thing with zucchini. I also substituted grated Pepper Jack cheese for Mozzarela. Gives it a bit more of a kick!

Reading! ::

I've been meaning to post this for the past few days and I keep forgetting. What's that they say about the memory being the first thing to go? Probably the second! Anyway, I'm a huge Pat Conroy fan and he has a new book being released on August 11th titled "South Of Broad". Given Conroy's history with the low country of South Carolina there should be no surprise that this book is about Charleston. Here's a blurb from Amazon:

An unlikely group of Charlestonian teens forms a friendship in 1969, just as the certainties and verities of southern society are quaked by the social and political forces unleashed earlier in the decade. They come from all walks of life, from the privileged homes of the aristocracy, from an orphanage, from a broken home where an alcoholic mother and her twins live in fear of a murderous father, from the home of public high school’s first black football coach, and from the home of the same school’s principal. The group’s fulcrum, Leopold Bloom King, second son of an ex-nun Joyce scholar, who is also the school’s principal, and a science-teacher father, is just climbing out of childhood mental illness after having discovered his handsome, popular, athletic, scholarly older brother dead from suicide. Over the next two decades, these friends find success in journalism, the bar, law enforcement, music, and Hollywood. Echoing some themes from his earlier novels, Conroy fleshes out the almost impossibly dramatic details of each of the friends’ lives in this vast, intricate story, and he reveals truths about love, lust, classism, racism, religion, and what it means to be shaped by a particular place, be it Charleston, South Carolina, or anywhere else in the U.S. --Mark Knoblauch

Sometime around 1988 I was living and working in Midtown Atlanta during a time when Conroy lived just a couple of blocks away while writing one of his books. I don't remember which book right now, I would have to check the chronology, but I always hoped that I would bump into him at one of the restaurants or watering holes in the neighborhood, but it never happened and, as I recall, he finished the book in Paris.

Hang on for another Pat Conroy anecdote. I used to visit a used book store on Juniper Street in Atlanta called The Old New York Bookstore. It was an old house which had been converted into a bookstore with a pretty eclectic collection of reading material. One day I happened to pick up a Conroy book off a reading table. I don't remember which one, but it may very well have been The Lords Of Discipline. I opened the cover and there was an inscription: "To _____, who wears the ring!" I always wondered how someone could give up a treasure such as that!

Anyway, Amazon is taking pre-orders and you can be sure that I will be in line for this new work from Pat Conroy.

Still Around! ::

Not much at all has been going on, but I would hate to see the site die from inactivity so I'll post something, at least, every few days.

I just got through trimming and bathing my dog. No fun, but as I was finishing up 20 geese flew right overhead. If I still hunted I could have put at least 2 or 3 in the freezer, which I just finished cleaning out!

I sometime miss the duck hunting. Several friends and I used to hunt some beaver ponds on a feeder creek to Lake Guntersville years ago. It was a great place for Mallards and Wood Ducks, but we were in there early on a pretty cold weekday morning. The action was only fair with a few ducks in the pot, but the snow started falling just after sunrise and the scenery was magical. Luckily I had an understanding boss because I didn't go to work that day.

Now I fish.

Alligators In Wateree Lake? ::

I was late checking the on-line edition of The Camden Chronicle-Independent this week, but I was kinda amazed to run across this:



From The Camden Chronicle-Independent:

What started out as a catfishing escapade quickly escalated into something just short of a Steve Erwin adventure late Thursday night on the Camden side of Lake Wateree.

While John Boykin and Daniel Sheheen were fishing off of Sheheen's dock, Boykin said he spotted something strange in the water

[snip}

The alligator was about 3 feet long and was put into a dog kennel upon capture for safe keeping.

Jacob Hammond, a Camden police officer, was at Sheheen's house when the alligator was caught and contacted Matt McCaskill with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to come remove the reptile so it wouldn't cause problems for those enjoying Fourth of July on the lake. To Hammond's knowledge, there hasn't been another alligator captured on Lake Wateree, but he said he wasn't 100 percent sure.

McCaskill, however, said this is the "first confirmed capture" of an alligator on Lake Wateree.

Careful dangling those toes in the lake!

As I understand it Daniel Sheheen is the son of Jerry.

Space Shuttle Endeavour ::

Finally flew. No launch photographs have been posted yet, but I'll put one up in a day or so. One of my television co-workers has been down there for 2 weeks with his kids waiting for the orbiter to fly! Not too many Space Shuttle Launches left.

STS-127 Endeavour ::

There was a thunderstorm at KSC yesterday with some lightening strikes. Engineers are evaluating the aftermath of these strikes and Endeavours launch has been delayed until Sunday. I haven't gotten a new time for launch yet, but, most probably, late Sunday afternoon.

Francis Snelgrove ::

An excerpt from this mornings lengthy obituary in The State:

Mr. Francis Addy Snelgrove of Leesville passed away on July 2, 2009, at Lexington Medical Center. Addy was the son of the late Horace and Ruth Snelgrove.

Born Feb.14, 1925, in the Gilbert Area of Lexington County, Snelgrove received a B.S. Degree in Mathematics from Newberry College in 1945, a Masters Degree in Secondary Education from the University of South Carolina in 1952 and an Advanced Professional Certificate in Public School Administration from Columbia University in New York in 1954. During the two summers he was a student at Columbia University, Snelgrove worked with the New York Police Athletic League to provide recreation for “youngsters of the street” on the lower east side of Manhattan.

[snip]

Snelgrove became principal of Camden High School in 1957, a position he held until 1969, when he became superintendent of Camden City Schools.

He then became superintendent of the unified county and city schools in Kershaw County in 1978. Snelgrove aided in the building and/or completion of North Central High School, new buildings for Camden Primary and Camden Elementary schools and athletic facilities for Lugoff-Elgin High, a music facility at Camden High and expansion and improvements at Lugoff Elementary School and Kershaw County Vocational Center.

Under his leadership at Camden High School (CHS) a number of programs were established such as the Army ROTC Program as well as the Vocational Wing Addition of CHS.

Tomato Pie Recipe ::

As promised here is how I fixed my Tomato Pie.

I started with Paula Deen's basic recipe but, as usual, I modified it a little bit.

Ingredients:

1 9" pie shell (I got the cheap frozen one from the Wal-Mart)
3 or 4 ripe tomatoes
1 onion (I would have preferred Vidalia, but all I had was yellow)
12 large fresh Basil leaves
1 cup mayonnaise (I used the light kind)
1 cup Mozzarella cheese
1 cup Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste (I always prefer sea salt and coarse ground black pepper)

I took the pie shell, after thawing, and put it in a 350° oven for about 10 minutes just to brown it a bit.

I sliced the tomatoes and put them in a colander to drain while I thinly sliced the onion. During the summer I always grow Basil so I went outside and whacked off 12 large leaves and chopped them finely. I put the onions on the pie shell followed by a full layer of tomatoes. I found that 3 tomatoes were enough. I then sprinkled the fresh Basil over the tomatoes followed by salt and pepper.

I mixed the mayonnaise, Mozzarella and Parmesan well in a bowl and covered the top of the pie with this mixture. This was then put in a 350° oven for between 45 minutes and one hour. When it was done I let it cool for 10 or 15 minutes before slicing.

I looked at several recipes before fixing mine as above. Some recommended 30 to 35 minutes at 425° but I generally like to cook slower so I went with the 350° temperature. One of the beauties of this recipe is that the final outcome can be varied depending on which cheeses are chosen. I think that next time I will try the Monterey Jack in place of the Mozzarella.

Give this easy recipe a try-I think you'll like it!

More Sad News ::

I just got this from Buster:

Saw in the paper this a.m. that Mr. Snelgrove has passed away. He was the captain of a good ship. Mrs. Duval has quit eating and is in her final days. If you have any stories or anecdotes, please send them to me. The sound of a woman walking down a hall with high heels still raises the hair on the back of my neck. B.

I have no further details, but I'll pass along any I get.

Tomato Pie ::

I thought I knew most ways to fix and eat Tomatoes, but I heard about Tomato Pie a few weeks ago and my first one is in the oven. If it is a success I'll share the recipe. If not I'll hang my head in shame!

[update] It's out of the oven and looks and smells good. Definitely a good sign!

[further update] Tomato Pie is excellent, but it's nap time now so you'll have to wait for the recipe!