Tomato Pie
by Roy Finamore
from Tasty: Get Great Food on the Table Every Day
(Houghton Mifflin, 2007)
Makes one 10-inch pie

I first ate tomato pie like this in the ‘80s — at a tea shop in Connecticut. I couldn't imagine it when I saw it on the menu, and that's usually a trigger for my ordering something. What a good thing this turned out to be to eat in the middle of the afternoon: a big biscuit-crust pie filled with sliced ripe tomatoes — real tomatoes — with a little tang of cheese. But creamy, too. The creamy secret is mayo.

This is one of those times when I ease up on my tomato stance. It's sublime when you make it with ripe tomatoes that you've gotten from the farmer who grew them and they're still warm with the sun. But, you know, this tastes fine with the best plum tomatoes you can find in the winter.

To make this lunch, serve the pie with the simplest salad possible. Get a bag of mesclun in the grocery and toss it with extra-virgin olive oil, then add good salt and a few drops of the best wine vinegar you have — no pepper. Or, if you're making this when it's cold outside, use the inside leaves of a head of escarole and dress the salad (use more vinegar) when you put the pie into the oven.

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1. Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Make the pastry
1. Put the flour, baking powder, and about 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl and stir with a fork. Drop in the butter and cut it into the flour until the butter pieces are about the size of small peas. Do this with a pastry blender, two knives, or your fingers. Pour in the milk and stir until you have a dough that hasn't quite come together. Dump it on the counter and knead it a few times to work in the dry flour.

2. Divide the dough in half. Roll one half out until it is large enough to line a 10-inch pie plate. The other half can sit unless the kitchen is hot. If it is, refrigerate the dough (or work fast).

Make the filling
1. Mix the tomatoes with the herbs, half the cheddar, and some salt. Pat this out evenly in the pastry. Spread the tomatoes with the mayo and scatter the rest of the cheese on top.

2. Roll out the rest of the biscuit dough, and top the pie. Trim the top and bottom crusts back to the rim of the pie plate, leaving no overhang. You can seal the crusts with either a fork or your fingers.

3. Bake the pie until it's golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Let it cool for a while before serving. It wants to be warm, not hot.

4. You can reheat slices in the microwave. Or in the oven, fellow Luddites.

 

[Regina Hayden] Oh, the memories: summer chats with mom at the kitchen table after picking tomatoes from the garden. Our treat was thick slices of fresh, sweet tomato with a dollop of Hellmann's. Nothing else...just give it to us straight. Finamore's tomato pie captures that garden freshness. The creamy blend of white cheddar and mayo is a nice touch. The flaky biscuit crust is perfect. Delicious!

[Robyn Rice-Foster] This was the best tomato pie that I have eaten thus far. I made one of them exactly like the recipe, using white cheddar cheese; it was gone within 1 hour! Next, I made 2 more — one with mozzarella and another with a combination of Italian cheeses; they were totally devoured by my 21-year-old son and his friends. They claimed it was the bomb, better than having pizza, simple and easy to make to impress their girlfriends. I served it with sautéed green beans with tomatoes, and accompanied with a spinach salad.

[Kim Graham] I was skeptical that the very wet dough would roll out without sticking to the rolling pin. It did stick, but stayed together in one piece when gently peeled off of the rolling pin. I loved the crispness of the crust in the finished pie. So good and so buttery — I had a hard time keeping myself from picking at the edges to munch on. The filling itself tasted like summer. I'm certain I'll be using this recipe frequently when my tomatoes have ripened (without the mayo, though!).

[Dan Kraan] With an easy-to-make crust that holds up to the tomatoes, this pie is a winner! The herbal, rich flavours that come through, bite after bite, are superb the same day you make it.

[Cindi Kruth] The crust tasted fine but was a little soggy on the bottom. Perhaps the tomatoes could be salted and drained to help prevent this. Nonetheless, the pie was quite pleasant and tasty. A nice breakfast or lunch.

[Jill Mulcahy] This recipe sounded so good and the thought of using our bounty of fresh tomatoes in a different recipe was the clincher for me. Though I love to cook, baking is not my forte, especially pies, as I often have trouble with the crusts. This crust recipe was incredibly easy and forgiving to work with and was delightfully flaky! The flavor of the warm tomatoes combined with the basil and chives and the creamy, though subtle, taste of the mayo was delicious. Definitely one I will make again and again.

[Leanne Abe] Reading the recipe, I was excited to make this — I love tomatoes. Dealing with peeling and seeding the tomatoes, I was grumpy and not liking the recipe. Tasting the finished pie, it was all worth it! It's like the best tomato soup in pie form, with the bonus of a buttery crust on top (my bottom crust got soggy). It took about 40 minutes from start to finish, easily doable on a weekday. Just watch your pie crust if you're doing this on a hot summer day.

[Danielle Lazarin] The filling was more watery than I anticipated, and it soaked the bottom crust because of this. This was more a problem with appearance and messiness than with taste, as it was delicious nonetheless. I don't doubt that part of this was due to my poor job on seeding the tomatoes, but I'd have liked to have had explicit instructions on this in the recipe itself. The dough rolled out like a dream, and the results were surprisingly delicious for this unusual combo of ingredients (I was doubtful of the mayo). Seems that it would work nicely as a brunch dish. It reheated nicely, too, for the next few days.

[Jeannette Tergliafera] I have used a tomato pie recipe for several years that is much simpler than this one but the extra time was well worth it. The pie crust was a wonderful surprise because I very rarely have good luck with pie crusts, even though I've been cooking for 30-plus years. The pie itself was delicious, and I'm sure I will use it over and over again.