Tomatoes are everywhere right now. You can find them available by the flat at farmers markets, piled high on grocery store shelves and ripe on the vine in your very own garden. The star summer produce pops up in bright reds, rich greens, yellows and oranges. But as summer fades to fall, the pressure to use up your tomatoes before they lose their seasonality is on. After making tomato soup, ratatouille and bruschetta, toss your tomatoes into a pie with cheese and basil and see how they shine.
This recipe calls for six large tomatoes. The variety you use doesn’t matter as much as their texture. Because tomatoes retain a lot of moisture, the firmer the fruit is, the better. If you leave the store with a batch of soft tomatoes, your pie will most likely come out soggy.
Beyond using firm tomatoes, there’s a few extra steps you can take to ensure your pie is baked to perfection. Thinly slice the tomatoes then pat them down with a paper towel and spinkle with salt. Let the sliced tomatoes sit for a few minutes before using them in your pie. This will help get out any excess moisture.
Secondly, blind bake your crust. If you’re not familiar with blind baking, it’s a technique that requires you to bake the crust without the filling in it. Once the pie shell is a light brown color, remove it from the oven and let it cool. Now you can add the filling by layering a Southern-inspired homemade pimento cheese, tomatoes, basil and crushed crackers.
Top the entire pie off with a pimento cheese topping and one more layer of sliced tomatoes. You'll be left with a golden brown, cheesy, savory tomoto pie that’s great to serve as an appetizer or vegetarian main dish. If you have more of the fruit leftover, try more of our best recipes that use fresh tomatoes.
Tomato Pie With Pimento Cheese Topping
This recipe is by Robin Mather and was originally published in The Chicago Tribune.
Ingredients
