MY TOMATO PIE

My son, Rob took this photograph of tomato pie on a Sunday afternoon at Page's Okra Grill, after the restaurant had closed. I didn't work for Page's, but I loved cooking with Tony Page and he would call me and tell me when he wanted to try a new recipe. We cooked my tomato pie recipe on this day, and made buttercream and Grillades and Grits. It was a great cooking day. My son had gone with the to photograph the food, and I love the way that he photographed the pies.

Savory Tomato Pie

I've been making this pie for many years now. It's been through a few changes from the original pie. For example, I use one layer of tomatoes. If you've got really good tomatoes and you put them in a pie, then you'll have a really good pie, but if you don't, then all you will taste are tomatoes that are not really good. One layer of tomatoes forgives that in this pie. My other son loves tomato pie and he was the inspiration for the recipe below.

Try it and see if you like it. I promise this pie will be good. The recipe below is reposted from my e-book, Seasoned in the Kitchen ($2.99), available at Amazon.com.

Savory Tomato Pie

1 pre-baked 9 inch pie crust*

1-1/2 to 2 ripe tomatoes, peeled

1 teaspoon dried basil or 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1 small to medium sweet onion, finely chopped

1 ½ cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese

1 cup mayonnaise

Salt and pepper to taste

 

*Blind bake the pie crust according to package directions. Cool.

Peel the tomatoes by making an “x” on the smooth end of the tomatoes and dipping them into boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove from water, and the peel should come right off.

Slice tomatoes into ½ -3/4 inch slices and set aside on paper towels to drain.

Place the tomato slices in the pie shell in ONE layer (this is the secret).

Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

In a medium bowl, mix the chopped onion, basil, cheese and mayonnaise. Spread this mixture evenly over the tomatoes to the edge of the pie crust.

Bake at 350º for 35-40 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly in the center. Remove from the oven and wait 15 minutes before serving. 

*Note: Make small tomato pies using the same method as above. These are great for tea parties. You can also make tomato pies by putting pimiento cheese into phyllo shells, topping with a slice of Roma tomato and baking until the cheese has melted.