Tomato Pie
Tomato pie is the quintessential sign of summer and I think this one tops them all; there are big tomato slices on the bottom, then a layer of the good stuff (cheese, bacon, jals), then it’s topped with a billion sliced tiny cherry tomatoes. I think you’re going to love it.
Tomato Pie
Yield: 1 pie, serves 6-8
The most delicious tomato pie you'll enjoy all summer long.
Time
- Prep: 30 mins
- Cook: 1 hour comprised of 2 30 min bakes
- Total:
Ingredients
- About 2 or 3 pints of cherry tomatoes depending on size – ideally get 2 of the little ones, but 3 of the slightly bigger is ok.
- 3 big tomatoes – I have tried this with heirloom and romas
- 1 ½ cups cheddar cheese, grated (grate this by hand don’t buy pre grated)
- 6 pieces of bacon
- ½ yellow onion, diced
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
- 2 TB mayonnaise, I use Duke’s
- Pie crust – either homemade or store bought
Recipe
- Method
- If you’re home making the pie crust mix 2 ½ cups of AP flour and 1 tsp of salt. Using a biscuit cutter or two knives cut in 1 cup (2 sticks) of very cold butter. Cut cut cut until the butter is mixed in. Add 2TB of white vinegar and mix well. Little by little add splashes of very cold ice water and knead and mix until the pie crust comes together, but no more – this should be about ½ cup, maybe a little less. Set in the fridge to chill for an hour.
- In the meantime slice whichever big tomatoes you are using about ¼ inch thick and press out any extra jiggly tomato guts – those will make our pie wet. Lay the tomato slices out on a piece of paper towel. Sprinkle generously with salt (we are trying to pull out as much moisture as poss) and then cover them with another big piece of paper towel. Press down slightly on the top piece to make sure that the paper towel makes contact with all of the tomatoes. Leave for an hour or more to draw out moisture. Replace paper towels if you need to.
- Blind bake your pie crust (home made or store bought). Preheat the oven to 400. Roll out the pie crust into a disc about 1/8 inch thick and transfer to your pie pan. Prick the crust all over the bottom with a fork and line with parchment paper. Fill with pie weights or uncooked rice and bake for 20-25 mins until pie crust is nice and golden brown.
- Meanwhile, make your filling. Heat a skillet over medium heat and add your bacon, cooking it till it’s nice and crisp. In the same pan, then cook the diced onions until they are very soft and starting to brown a little on the edges. Grate your cheese into a big bowl, add the crumbled bacon, cooked onions and diced jalapeño. Stir in the mayo and season with salt and pepper. You should be looking at a pimento cheese sort of consistency. (Note: don’t use pre-grated cheese. It is coated in a starch/ preservative that makes it not clump together, but also makes it not melt as uniformly.)
- Slice your cherry tomatoes in half or into thirds – it should seem like you have a billion gumdrop sized little jewely tomatoes at the end. You want about 3 cups or slightly more. Salt them and transfer them to a bowl.
- Now that your pie crust is done, turn down the oven temp to 350. Line the bottom of the pie with your *slightly* dehydrated tomatoes. Cram ‘em in there, but make the surface pretty flat. Top with your cheese mixture and spread evenly across the pie using a spatula. Pile the little tomatoes onto the cheese layer, making sure there are enough tomatoes to cover the whole pie, exposing no cheese. Bake for 30-35 minutes, then allow to stand for about 5 minutes, then serve.
- Note: if your crust starts to get too brown you can cover the edges with little pieces of foil.