Tomato’s, tomato’s, tomato’s…

So many tomato’s.  Its September and fall is in the air.  

Tomato’s are ripening and aside from boiling them down into sauce for the freezer or making that wonderful tomato basil salad, maybe throwing in a few green beans or thinly sliced cucumbers; WHAT on earth do you do with them all ! 

A few years ago I came across a recipe for tomato pie.  It is made with a tender biscuit crust and filled with the ripest peeled tomato’s, heaped into the crust and covered with fresh basil, dill, chives, parsley, sharp cheddar cheese and a mayo dressing.  

Now, I’m NOT one to stick to a recipe.  I tweak and adjust to my liking and if the first time I don’t get it right I try again next time.  So…needless to say, this recipe has been done my way for the tomato filling, but the basic crust recipe is pretty much unchangeable.  Tho, I have added dried dill and chives to the crust which dresses it up a bit but doesn’t really change the flavor.

Get ready for the house to warm up as this pie bakes and while it bakes you can pull those warm sweaters down from the top shelf in your closet and cozy up on the couch to soak in the aroma coming from the kitchen.   

Sharing this pie with friends and family is always a treat but won’t allow for leftovers…this pie disappears !!!  So, if you want to make sure there is more for you tomorrow {or later on today} make TWO !

Sara’s Tomato Pie

First, prep your tomato’s.

Peel and core 3 to 4  LARGE tomato’s.  Its easy to peel them if they are very ripe.  Slice them into 1/2 inch thick slices and place them in a colander, one sliced tomato at a time, to drain.  (make sure you have the colander in a bowl to save the juice)  Sprinkle a bit of sea salt on the tomato slices to pull out the juices.  Repeat this with all your tomato’s.

Now, head out to your herb garden and cut some fresh basil, dill, parsley, chives…a HUGE bunch.  You can’t have too many herbs in this pie.  Bring them in, wash and rough chop them.  No big need to be precise here.  Then, put them in a bowl off to one side.

Now, get that sharp cheddar out of the fridge.  Add some Monterey Jack, Swiss,  Fontina, any blend you wish or just cheddar.  Your call.  Using your large hole grater, grate all this cheese until you have about 2 1/2 cups.  I’m a cheese-fanatic so I really get carried away with this ingredient !  Put all that grated cheese in another bowl off to one side.

Next, make your mayonnaise dressing.  Put 1/2 cup of mayonnaise (I only use Hellman’s) 1 TB of extra virgin olive oil, and 1 TB of white balsamic vinegar in a small bowl and mix well.  Throw in a dash or two of freshly ground pepper and a dash of sea salt.  Set this aside with the rest of the waiting ingredients.

Pre- heat your oven to 400 degrees.

NOW.  Make your biscuit crust.  To a large mixing bowl add:

2 cups of unbleached flour

4 TB baking powder

1 teas sea salt

one stick of  cold BUTTER diced into small chunks

1/4 cup of ice cold water and 1/4 cup of cold milk (you may need to add more ice water gradually to get a pliable but not sticky dough for rolling)

First, blend the dry ingredients to mix.  Add the diced cold butter and blend until the butter breaks down and mixes with the dry ingredients…then…gradually add the milk and ice water until the dough binds together into a ball.

Separate the dough into two equal portions.  Roll out one portion to line a 10 inch pie plate.

Go for that waiting bowl of draining tomato’s.  With your  hands, pick up a few slices at a time of those beauties and gently squeeze out any remaining juice.  Layer the slices (which will be falling apart right now and this is what you want) on top of the bottom crust in your pie plate. You want to use up half the sliced tomato’s for this first layer.  Now grab some of that cheese and layer half the mix on top of the tomato’s.  Add half of the roughly chopped herb mixture and repeat this all over again using up the remaining tomato’s, cheese and herbs.  Finally, spread the mayonnaise dressing on top of this mound of yummy filling.  No need to be precise.  It all blends together magnificently while baking.

Roll out the remaining biscuit crust and place it on the top of this creation, seal the edges any which way you prefer, slice a couple of slits in the top with a super sharp knife and bake this beauty for 35 minutes in your heated 400 degree oven.

When the crust has that gorgeous medium brown patina and the cheese looks like it is starting to ooze out of those top slits in the pie, its READY.  Turn off the oven, leave the door ajar and let the pie sit in the cooling oven for about 15 minutes.

Pull the chairs out from around the table and get ready for the culinary equivalent of a warm cashmere sweater on a chilly fall day in front of a blazing fireplace.

Enjoy every last bite of this plate scraper pie.

Now…to add a little idea for that too good to throw down the drain tomato juice you have left in the bottom of a bowl on the counter.

Put a bit of olive oil in a cast iron pan on your stove top.  Add a thinly sliced Vidalia onion or a shallot or two.  Mince a clove of garlic and sautee these over medium heat until they are soft and beginning to caramelize.   Slowly add a bit of that tomato juice and sautee until it reduces by half.  Do this until you’ve used up almost all of the juice.  Now, add a handful of green beans that have been washed and the stem ends snapped.  Sautee these until they are tender to your liking, add the remaining tomato juice, salt and pepper to taste and serve alongside your tomato pie.

Of course, you can add any kind of summer squash or other veggies you like to this pan of goodness.  Let your imagination run, create your own masterpiece and always, always remember to add “The Soul of the Secret Ingredient”.