5-23: Cheese Pie with Tomatoes comes with a bit of a story. About 10 years ago, I spent a week in Chattanooga, Tennessee with my college friend/roommate and his family. His aunt (who was hosting us) attempted to teach me some of her Southern-style recipes while we were there, and one of them was something called “tomato pie”.
Her tomato pie involved a pie crust, tomatoes, a JAR of Hellmann’s (it was the South), and a whole bag of shredded cheese. This one is slightly less heart-attack-inducing.
My mom never made this one, but I suppose it wouldn’t have been completely offensive to her.
Ingredients. I had some beautiful heirloom tomatoes from the CSA box (notice my intricate tomato stacking) that I wanted to use before they got yucky, hence the inspiration for this recipe. Used half-and-half for this instead of milk since that was the only lactose-free option I had on hand.
Making the dough in my ancient Cuisinart. This thing’s on its last legs, but it’s hanging in there for now (at least until someone buys me a new one off my Amazon wishlist).
What a nice little ball of dough. 🙂 I make homemade quiches weekly for a friend of mine, and so I’ve gotten pretty good at whipping up pie crust dough. I usually use Julia Child’s pâte brisée recipe, which you can find here.
I can’t get over how pretty heirloom tomatoes are. We got cases of them in the restaurant over the summer for caprese toasts, and I never got over how gorgeous and unique ever single one was.
Pushing out the crust with my hand. Yes, I know my fingernails are long for working with food.
Those indentations are made with the end of a knife. It’s not like you’ll even be able to see it when I fill the pie, but it makes me happy.
And after it baked. Already, the indentations are difficult to see. I told you it doesn’t make much of a difference.
Putting the bacon in the crust. Don’t do it the way I did it, it doesn’t cut or serve well (as I found out). You’re better off laying them next to each other, even if you have to break the pieces to do it.
Laying the tomatoes in. Still can’t get over those colors.
Cheese and green onions added. Goodbye, crust.
Egg & half-and-half mixture on top. Ready to bake!
The finished product. Looks pretty good, and nary a drop of Hellmann’s to be seen.
And the final shot, which I posted earlier when I made it originally. Not quite the same as the original concept (no mayonnaise), but it was still pretty delicious.
Grade: A-
