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Tomato Pie Recipe

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This recipe for Tomato Pie is from Bykerk Family Cookbook, one of the cookbooks created at FamilyCookbookProject.com. We'll help you start your own personal cookbook! It's easy and fun. Click here to start your own cookbook!


Category:
Category:

Ingredients:  
Ingredients:  


For the pie crust

1 9" pie crust or homemade

- 1 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1⁄2 tsp. granulated sugar
- 1⁄2 tsp. salt
- 6 tbsp. cold butter cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 2 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. ice-cold water
- 1⁄2 tsp. white vinegar

For the filling and topping

- 3 1⁄2 lb. vine-ripe tomatoes (about 12), cored, seeded, and cut into 1⁄2-inch dice, divided
- 2 tsp. salt, divided
- 1 tsp. sugar, divided
- 1 tbsp. butter
- 1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced with the grain
- 1 tsp. picked thyme
- 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- 1⁄4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
- 1⁄3 cup packed whole basil leaves

- 1⁄2 cup mayonnaise
- 1⁄3 cup grated fontina
- 1⁄3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 2 large Roma or heirloom tomatoes, thinly sliced and blotted dry with paper towels

Directions:
Directions:
1. Make the pie crust: Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium for a few seconds. Begin adding the butter one cube at a time. Continue until the flour is speckled and crumbly, about 4 minutes. With the mixer still running, add the water and vinegar until just combined. Do not overmix. Press the dough into a 6-inch disk, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator overnight.
2. Bring the crust to room temperature and lightly butter a 10-inch metal pie pan. Preheat the oven to 400°. Dust your counter and rolling pin lightly with flour and roll the crust slightly larger than your pan. Lay the crust in the pan and press gently into its edges. Cut off the edges that hang over and discard. Freeze for at least 15 minutes or until you're ready to blind-bake.
3. Lay foil or parchment paper on top of the crust and weigh that down with dried beans or rice. Blind-bake the shell for 30 minutes. Remove the pie weights and foil or parchment and bake 5 minutes more. Set the cooked crust aside as you prepare the filling.
4. Make the filling: Toss half of the diced tomatoes with 1⁄2 teaspoon salt and 1⁄2 teaspoon sugar. Set them over a colander to drain while you get everything else ready, at least an hour.
5. Lower your oven to 375°. In a medium sauté pan or skillet, melt the butter and then add the onion and 1⁄2 teaspoon salt. Cook over medium-low heat until deeply caramelized. This will take about 45 minutes. If the onion gets away from you and burns a little, add 1⁄4 cup of water to the pan, scrape up the overbrowned bits, and keep going. In the end, you have a scant 2⁄3 cup caramelized onion.
6. Toss the remaining diced tomatoes with 1⁄2 teaspoon salt, thyme, and olive oil. Spread in a single layer on a sheet tray with as much room separating the individual pieces as possible. Slide the tray onto the middle rack of your oven and roast for 30-35 minutes. You're looking for the tomatoes to dry out and brown slightly.
7. Once all the individual components are done, stir together the onion, the fresh and roasted diced tomatoes, the remaining salt, sugar, black pepper, and basil.
8. Make the topping and finish the pie: In a separate, smaller bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, fontina, and Parmigiano. Spoon the filling into your blind-baked crust. Top with the cheese mixture and tomato slices. Bake in the middle of your oven for 30 minutes. You can serve this warm or at room temperature. Both have their virtues.

Personal Notes:
Personal Notes:
When you have more tomatoes than you can use, make this pie. It is time consuming to make, but you will love the taste. Make it only when you have vine ripe tomatoes. It doesn't taste nearly as good with shelf ripened tomatoes.

Tomato pie is most popular in the Carolinas, especially the flat coastal Lowcountry. This particular recipe comes from Vivian Howard of Chef & the Farmer and PBS’s “A Chef’s Life.” Her 2016 cookbook Deep Run Roots is a rich and thoughtful exploration of Eastern North Carolina food, tradition, and history. This recipe from that book is one of my favorites.

If you want a great cookbook about southern food, I highly recommend this cookbook. We used this cookbook for one of our cookbook dinners.

 

 

 

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