Friday, August 20, 2010

Tomato Pie

Last week the Roanoke Times ran a recipe for Laurie Colwin's tomato pie. I just had to try it. It has a biscuit crust, tomatoes (from the greenhouse), scallions (from the greenhouse), cheese, a mix of mayo and lemon juice, more cheese, and more biscuit crust.  Yum!

Here's a link to the recipe: http://thegarden.typepad.com/a_bite_to_eat/laurie_colwin/

Here is how it came out:

I am pasting the recipe here, because I am afraid it will disappear from the web, and then tomato season will be a little less joyful.  I am making a few minor changes and adding a few notes.

Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour (part whole wheat is fine)
4 teaspoons baking powder
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
Approximately 2/3 cup milk (less if it's a very humid day)

Filling:
1/3 - 1/2 cup mayonnaise (I use a little more because my pie pan is deep)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 pounds fresh tomatoes
3-4 tablespoons chopped basil, chives or scallions or a mixture of all 4
1 1/2 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese

In a bowl mix flour and baking powder together. Cut butter into flour with a pastry blender until it resembles coarse oatmeal. (You can do this part in a blender or food processor.) Stir in milk a little at a time until dough forms a ball. Knead gently only until dough is completely blended. Roll out half the dough on a floured surface and line a 9-inch pie plate with it.  (My age-old technique of rolling the dough out on wax paper does NOT work unless the paper is well-floured!)

In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise with lemon juice. If you want peeled tomatoes, do the following, but I usually skip this part:

- Blanch the tomatoes in a large pot of boiling water for 30-60 seconds 

- Transfer immediately to a bowl full of cold water.

- Peel.

Slice the tomatoes very thin. Cover the bottom of the crust with two layers of tomato slices. Sprinkle 1/3 of the herbs across tomatoes. Add another layer of tomato slices, sprinkle with 1/3 of the herbs and 1/2 the grated Cheddar. Drizzle with 1/2 of the mayonnaise mixture. Layer the rest of the tomato slices on top and scatter remaining herbs over the last layer. Top with remaining Cheddar and mayonnaise mixture. 

Roll out the remaining dough, fit it over the filling, pinch the edges of the dough together to seal them. Cut several steam holes in the top crust and bake the pie at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes, or until crust is golden and filling is just bubbling.

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