Friday, August 21, 2009

Tomato Pie: OH MY YUM.

If you have access to good, home-grown tomatoes...you must try this recipe. Run, don't walk, to the grocery store and pick up the essentials: sweet Vidalia onions. bacon (you can't go wrong with bacon). cheese, lots of cheese.

Be brave and make your pie crust from scratch. If I can do it, anyone can!

And then enjoy your very own Cheesy Tomato and Onion Pie.


(The crust is not as burnt as it looks...I mean, it's burnt around the edges, but it's dark because I used white whole wheat flour. Which worked just fine, by the way. But, holy moly, I had no idea pie crust was so. incredibly. full. of. fat. This recipe called for 1 1/2 sticks of butter and 1/2 c. shortening! I know, ew, shortening. The recipe said it was important, so I cringed and obeyed.)

Heather at Home-Ec101.com posted this recipe two years ago. I printed it off then, and saved it for two years (I'm anal-retentively organized like that), but never got around to trying it out--partly because I didn't have access to good tomatoes. Which are absolutely CRUCIAL to the recipe's success. But last weekend, my in-laws brought us some yummy 'maters from their garden, and I decided this was my chance to give it a whirl.

Can you believe this was my very first time ever making pie--not just crust, but pie, period? I decided to go for broke and make the crust from scratch. I got that recipe from a friend at church. I don't normally like pie crust, but I actually enjoyed the crust on the pie Mandy served when she hosted us for dinner a few weeks ago. So I asked her for the recipe. Fabulous.

I'm linking to the tomato pie recipe, instead of posting it here, because I didn't change anything except the name. It was originally called "Tomato, Onion and Bacon Pie"--but I couldn't even taste the bacon, so I think that's a little misleading. I think next time I'd double the bacon. And I found out afterwards that part of the reason mine was runny was possibly because I used light mayo. Next time I'll use the real stuff, or try substituting cream cheese. (Though it wasn't at all runny after it cooled.) Also, the recipe at the link doesn't mention peeling the tomatoes, but the original from two years ago said to peel them, so that's what we did (dunk them in boiling water for 30 seconds to make the skin slide right off).

I won't lie, this pie was a bit of a pain--but I don't think it will be next time, now that I know what I'm doing--and it was totally worth it. I'm enjoying another mouthwatering piece right now as I type. YUM.

For more stories of kitchen courage:
Fearless Fridays at Home-Ec101
For more food of all kinds:
Food on Fridays with Ann Kroeker

17 comments:

Unknown said...

I would love to make that if I could, but I think tomatoes bother Elise. :( Maybe sometime next year during tomato season though!

Patricia @ ButterYum said...

I'm filing this one away... sounds utterly divine!!!!

Esther said...

Sold :)
My tomatoes are a little slow this year, but I have high enough hopes to print this off and save it in my not so anal-retentive stack of papers that I call a recipe book, and try it as soon as I can.
Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I have a similar recipe that's also very good, although I don't thing there are tomatoes in it, and I think there's egg, so it's more like a quiche

Have you ever tried making stuffed tomatoes? Stuffed with rice or ground beef and cheese with seasonings, so good!

Amy said...

Danielle, how can your recipe be similar when there are no tomatoes in it?? the tomatoes are the main point of this one! it's nothing like a quiche :)

we tried tomatoes stuffed with Italian breadcrumbs and topped with mozzarella cheese earlier this week...but neither of us was a big fan. they were pretty tasteless. stuffed with cheese, now that might be good...

Heather Solos said...

I'm really glad you liked the recipe. Thank you for sharing it.

Cricket said...

I keep meaning to try that very recipe, but keep getting distracted. I need to go get some great tomatoes and just make it already lol...

Shannon said...

printing that right now! our kitchen counters are covered in tomatoes from the garden :)

zo said...

Have you ever had GREEN tomato pie? Now that's goooood. I think the green tomatoes are really just for texture: they're smothered in sugar!

I'll try this recipe when I get back from SC. Sounds wonderful. Anything w/ bacon is worth a try in my book.

Rebecca said...

I really enjoy reading your blog! I found "Multitude Mondays" @ Holy Experience through you.

And then I made this tomato pie tonight. I agree with you...it was awesome. Even my picky, junk-food-lovin' brother liked it. :)

Kelly said...

I'm so hungry... :)

Danielle said...

Amy, I didn't mean to say there were no tomatoes in it, I meant no onions! I must have been sleep deprived when I wrote that!

Danielle said...

I plan on making this next week. Did you serve anything else with it, or just the pie?

Amy said...

just the pie, Danielle--we ate dinner unusually late that night and Steve said he wasn't all that hungry, otherwise I would probably have done a side salad. or, maybe just some summery fruit--watermelon or whatever.

or just eat two pieces of pie :P

Amy said...

and, LOL at your earlier comment. thanks for clarifying :)

melancholy donut said...

hi there~ would you be willing to post your crust recipe? thanks!

Unknown said...

That sounds great, and the idea of doubling the bacon is infinitely appealing.