Recipe of the Day

We've been experiencing an avalanche of tomatoes in the last ten days.  Three kinds of cherry tomatoes started a couple of weeks ago and recently the beefsteak, heirloom and plum tomatoes have come on-line.

To be clear, tomatoes have figured significantly in our diet lately.

Today I puttered in the garden, weeding, pruning, picking and planting.  There are radishes and spinach planted for a late harvest.  Lettuces to follow.  Picked tomatoes by the box-full.  

So I put-up four quarts of fresh from the vine tomatoes and baked a yummy tomato pie.

Recipe here.....

Tomato Pie

Ingredients

• 1 9-inch pie shell (see pie crust recipe for homemade version)

• 1/2 cup chopped yellow or red onion (about 1/3 onion)

• 3 to 4 tomatoes, cut in half horizontally, squeezed to remove excess juice, roughly chopped, to yield approximately 3 cups chopped tomatoes

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/4 cup sliced basil (see recipe note)

• 2 cups (8 ounces/225 g) grated cheese (combination of sharp cheddar and Monterey Jack, or Gruyere or Mozzarella)

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise

• 1 teaspoon (or more to taste) Frank's Hot Sauce or Tabasco

• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Pre-bake the crust:

Preheat your oven to 425°F.

If you are like me and are using a store-bought pie shell, follow the directions on the package for pre-baking, or pre-bake it in the oven for about 12 minutes (a little longer for a frozen pie shell), until lightly browned.

If you are using a homemade crust, freeze the crust first, then press a sheet of aluminum foil into the crust to keep the sides of the pie crust from falling down as it cooks. Fill the pie with pie weights such as dry beans or rice to help hold the foil in place.

1. Salt and drain the tomatoes:

2. Lightly salt the chopped tomatoes and set them in a colander over a bowl to drain while you are pre-baking the crust. Squeeze as much moisture as you can out of the chopped tomatoes, using either paper towels, a clean dish towel, or a potato ricer. 

    

   

3. Layer pre-baked pie shell with onions, tomatoes, basil:

4. Sprinkle a layer of chopped onion over the bottom of your pre-baked pie crust shell.

Spread the drained chopped tomatoes over the onions. Sprinkle the sliced basil over the tomatoes.

5. Make cheese mixture, spread over tomatoes:

6. In a medium bowl, mix together the grated cheese, mayonnaise, Tabasco, a sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper.

The mixture should be the consistency of a gooey snowball. Spread the cheese mixture over the tomatoes. 

 

7. Bake:

8. Place in oven and bake at 350°F (175°C) until browned and bubbly, anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes.

    
    
   Pro Tip - If you want to take this recipe up a notch, you can caramelize the onions while prepping the other ingredients. If you do that, double the amount of onion.

*This recipe calls for slicing fresh basil using a technique called chiffonade. To do this, stack the basil leaves on top of each other, roll them up like a cigar, starting at one end slice the "cigar" crosswise in thin slices.