5-23: Cheese Pie with Tomatoes

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”.

5-23 Cheese Pie with Tomatoes

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.


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My mom never made this one, but I suppose it wouldn’t have been completely offensive to her.


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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.


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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).


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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.


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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.


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Pushing out the crust with my hand. Yes, I know my fingernails are long for working with food.


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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.


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And after it baked. Already, the indentations are difficult to see. I told you it doesn’t make much of a difference.


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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.


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Laying the tomatoes in. Still can’t get over those colors.


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Cheese and green onions added. Goodbye, crust.


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Egg & half-and-half mixture on top. Ready to bake!


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The finished product. Looks pretty good, and nary a drop of Hellmann’s to be seen.


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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-