It turns out that this was very good and I’d like to make it again, (as opposed to babysitting for a nine month old for a weekend). But while I prefer a home-made pie crust, a store bought one would be fine. The taste of the caramelized onions was a distraction rather than a complement. The crust and the caramelizing of the onions were the 2 most complicated parts of the process.
Removing the skins of the tomatoes was easy, a good idea and should have been a part of the original Fine Cooking recipe. And they should have addressed the liquid issue. I added 2 TB of tapioca flour so that rather than having running juice, the pie had a more pudding-like texture.
I wonder if anyone at Fine Cooking actually made this or if they just sit around blatting out recipes concepts that they think sound good.
Cook A: “Oh, and you know what would be good in there? Caramelized onions”…
Cook B, “and garlic, a lotta garlic”…
Cook C, “Oh, and mustard!!!”
Cook D “Oh and hey, let’s do a really complicated crust!, that’ll be fun!”
But then they never made it. If someone at Fine Cooking who did not know the recipe attempted to make it they’d certainly have addressed both of those issues.
And obviously it did sound good when I read it or I wouldn’t have made it. Of course, like a crow I’m easily attracted to shiny objects. Or in this case shiny recipes.
