Recipe: Key Lime Tart

Right up front, I want you to know this recipe has no relationship to the genuine Key Lime pie, except for the fruit juice itself. True Key Lime pie, according to my research, is always made with sweetened condensed milk. This tart is thickened with cornstarch, giving it a different color and appearance. I apologize for the lack of a photo, but we ate it already.

John's Key Lime Tart

Makes one 9-inch tart

Line a 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom with your preferred pie crust. Cover the bottom with parchment, add pie weights or beans, and bake the shell at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until just beginning to brown on the edges. Remove the shell from the oven and allow to cool completely.

Place the following ingredients in a medium saucepan:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
pinch of salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (7 ounces) water
1/2 cup key lime juice (from about a dozen fresh limes)
1 tablespoon finely minced lime zest (remove zest with a peeler before juicing the limes)

Stir with a wire whisk until the sugar is dissolved and you have a uniform slurry. Add two whole eggs and one egg yolk, one at a time, stirring to fully incorporate each one. Finally, stir in 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter, cut in small pieces.

Set the saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring frequently and almost constantly near the end, for 15 minutes, or until the mixture becomes very thick. Remove from the heat. Stir a few moments to cool slightly, and pour the pudding into the prepared shell. Smooth the surface with a spatula.

Using strips of aluminum foil to protect the edges of the pastry from over-browning, place the tart on a sheet pan and set it in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove the tart from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Carefully transfer the tart to a rack to cool completely to room temperature. Place the cooled tart in the refrigerator until time to serve.

Dust the tart with powdered sugar, if you like, before slicing and serving.

Recipe: Tropical Fruit Bread

Here we are in the Dead Zone for fresh fruit. The citrus season is largely over, except for lemons and limes, of course, and we won't be getting local strawberries for a while yet. Instead of settling for summer fruits shipped from faraway lands, or apples stored since last fall, turn your attention instead to products from the tropics. This recipe is a riff on traditional banana bread, with the fiber and nutrition amped up via coconut, pineapple, Brazil nuts, and key lime.

If you wish, substitute another fruit for the dried pineapple, or use fresh or canned pineapple. In the latter case, no rehydration is necessary.

Tropical Fruit Bread

Makes one loaf

1/4 cup Brazil nuts
1/4 cup dried diced pineapple
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon flaked sweetened coconut
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh  key lime juice (about 3 limes)

Preheat oven to 350°.

Toast the Brazil nuts in a dry pan over high heat, transfer to a metal bowl to cool, and chop into dice.
Pour a little boiling water over the pineapple bits, allow to rehydrate for 10-15 minutes, then strain, reserving the liquid and pineapple separately.

In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, buttermilk, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Stir in 1/2 cup coconut, Brazil nuts and pineapple. If the batter seems too stiff, add a little of the pineapple soaking water. Spoon batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon coconut.

Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Combine powdered sugar and key lime juice, stirring with a whisk; drizzle over warm bread. Cool completely before slicing.

This Ancient Land

At about the time Charlemagne was Holy Roman Emperor, the Woodland people of Camp Creek were experimenting with some new vegetables: squash and corn. This part of the Tennessee Valley, therefore, was literally the cradle of agriculture in our fair state. Prior to this time, evidence suggests that people cultivated several native plants, including sumpweed, lamb's quarters, and sunflowers. But the squash and corn, which originated far to the south of Tennessee, were acquired by trade.

The Woodland people also brought new technology to the region. Their distinctively decorated pottery, created by pressing the wet clay with a wooden paddle wound with twine, exhibits several different styles. Perhaps these indicated ownership. The Woodland people retained the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of their ancestors from the Archaic period, supplementing their diet of game, fish, crayfish, periwinkles and foraged plants with cultivated plants. The improvement in diet apparently led to an increase in the population, and a tendency to remain in one place over long periods.

Another technical innovation accredited to the Woodland people is the bow and arrow. An obvious improvement over spears for hunting, the bow made food-getting easier.

Mound-building also first appeared during the Woodland era. Pinson Mounds in West Tennessee is a good example, but there are others. Mound building, as well as the cultivation of corn, would reach its zenith with the successors to the Woodland culture, the Mississippians.

When I first laid eyes on the site of the Camp Creek settlement, it was a farmer's plowed field, littered with bits and pieces of the lives of the Woodland folk. Anything of archaeological value had already been removed by the researchers from UT a few years before. I only found one point that day, but I have a handful of similar ones from our farm, a dozen miles from the Camp Creek site. The Woodland people occupied the Tennessee Valley for about 2000 years. Their points are scattered all over Greene County.

These days, I often think about what life must have been like for the Camp Creek people. The forest surrounding them would have had trees far larger than anything most of us modern folks have ever seen. There were American chestnuts 12 feet in diameter; the tree is nearly extinct now. Tulip poplars towered 100 feet overhead, with no branches for half that distance. Only tiny scraps of that magnificent forest now remain.

When you head out this summer for the mountains, lakes and rivers around East Tennessee, take a moment to remember the people who walked the trails and fished the rivers a millennium ago.

The Warm Season Begins

by John Tullock
May brings reliably warm weather, so it is time to get those warm season veggies in the ground. I prefer buying started plants of tomatoes and peppers, because we need only a few. I plant beans and cucumbers from seed.

Other vegetables you can plant this month include eggplant, squashes, melons, okra, tomatillos, and sweet corn. Check the temperature of your garden soil with a thermometer. When it is above 60F, you can plant even the most demanding crops, like melons. If you don't have a thermometer, or are not sure, wait until after the middle of the month, by which time we are likely to have had a day or two in the 90s.

Eggplants, melons, and squashes need protection from insects. Despite all the remedies, organic and otherwise, that you may have read about, the best approach to preventing damage from flea beetles (eggplant) or squash borers (squash, melons) is to cover the plants with a fine, lightweight fabric. You can use frost blanket, sometimes known as Reemay, or nylon window shears. I find the latter work well supported over the plants by a tomato cage or similar contrivance. Remove the cover when blooms appear on the plants, and damage should be minimal. You can use the cover for multiple seasons. Covered plants may need extra water. Check the soil regularly to make sure.

This year, we are growing Sungold tomatoes for salads. This productive, orange cherry type has a unique flavor. For general use, we decided to try Better Bush, a determinate version of the famous hybrid Better Boy. We are hoping for traditional flavor on a compact, uniformly productive plant.

Our pepper selection this year is our old standby, Sweet Banana. They are hard to beat in the Valley, and can be used for salads, in Creole dishes, to stuff, or as pickles. A single plant is all we need, as it will bear peppers until frost if well cared-for.

We are growing Homemade Pickles cucumbers, for the obvious reason, and our bean selection continues to be Fantastic Filet. Three seeds every two or three weeks keeps us in beans all summer long, and they are among the most tender and delicious green beans available.

Have a vegetable gardening question? Email me.