Tomato Pie
I found a recipe for tomato pie in the 1980s in Country Living magazine. It was a side dish, not a dessert. What a surprise! I made
it and fell in love. Then when we moved to Grants Pass, my girlfriend Sallie made her tomato pie for a get together and it was to die
for! She gave me her super easy recipe and I've made it more times than I can count and I've now put her recipe
on my website instead. I make my own pie crust but you can certainly use frozen ones, just keep
in mind you'll need a top and bottom crust.
Pie filling:
• 15 medium (or 20 small) just-picked tomatoes from a produce stand. My favorite tomatoes are Early Girl. They're deep red,
they have a lot of flavor, and they stay intact instead of turning into tomato sauce when baked. Don't use grocery store tomatoes,
they don't have enough flavor.
• 1 very, very large bunch of fresh basil, roughly chopped (about 2 packed cups)
• 1/8 white onion, sliced wafer thin (the white onion breaks down more easily than yellow or sweet onions)
• 1-1/2 packed cups shredded jack cheese
• 3/4 cup real mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 teaspoons lemon pepper
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
If you make your own pie crust, roll out 1/2 to 3/4 of the pie dough, lay in the pie dish and crimp the edges. Poke holes in
the bottom of the pie shell with a fork and bake it for 15 minutes. Remove it from the oven and set it aside to cool. Leave the
remaining dough in crumbles in the bowl and set it aside to sprinkle on top later.
If you're using store-bought pie crusts, bake one pie crust for 15 minutes, remove it from the oven and set it aside to cool. Set
the second pie crust aside to top the pie later.
Mix the jack cheese and mayonnaise in a small bowl and set it aside.
Chop the basil and slice the onion and set them aside.
Peel and seed the tomatoes. It's a bit messy but easy. Look it up on YouTube if you don't know how to peel and seed tomatoes. Cut the
tomatoes into large chunks. Drain well in a colander.
Layer the pie shell in the following order:
1/2 of the tomatoes
The basil
The onions
The jack cheese mayo mixture
Sprinkle with lemon pepper
The rest of the tomatoes
Sprinkle with the cheddar cheese.
Sprinkle with the remaining unbaked pie crust crumbles. (Omit this step if you're using pre-made store-bought pie crusts.)
If you're using pre-made pie crusts, cover the dish with the second crust and crimp the edges and poke holes in it so the pie can breathe.
If you'd like, brush with an egg wash to make it shiny.
Put the pie on a cookie sheet. The pie is heavy so this makes it easier to take the pie in and out of the oven. Loosely cover the whole
pie with foil. Bake the pie for one hour. Remove the foil and bake it for another 15-20 minutes. It's done when the crust is nicely
browned and the center of the pie is bubbling. Don't under bake this pie. The tomatoes need to be well cooked through. If it's not
bubbling in the center, put the foil back on and continue to bake for another 10 minutes.
I like to serve the pie scalding hot right out of the oven. It's drippy and falls apart easily, but this is when it tastes best. Once
it cools, the pie holds together beautifully. Serve it with a hearty entree such as grilled steak or pork loin or barbecued chicken.
Delicious!
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