Tomato Pie

My apologies for bringing this to you after we've had some frosty conditions but it wasn't actually too long ago that we made this. Our CSA had these gorgeous heirloom tomatoes available through fall and we got our last tomatoes in October which was a treat.

I don't know much about the history of tomato pie but I imagine it's a wonderful Southern delicacy. I wasn't unfamiliar with them but they weren't something my family ever made. Christine's sister, Sarah, made one at Christine's Bachelorette party last fall and I thought it would be fun to try here at home. So I emailed Christine for the recipe this summer and she shared it with me. And here it is directly from the email:

Edisto Tomato Pie
Ingredients
Pie crust (she uses a ready made one)
4 large tomatoes
(light) mayo
shredded cheddar cheese
optional: onions (she doesn't put them in)

Directions
   Bake the crust at 350 for 10 min
   Boil tomatoes to get the skins off, then cut into wedges and layer in the bottom of the pie crust.
   When you have covered the bottom with tomatoes, spread a mixture of cheese and mayo on top of the tomatoes. Place another layer of tomatoes and then another later of cheese and mayo on top.
   Put in the oven for about 30 min or until the cheese is all the way melted.

A few notes from me

-We've made this twice. The first time I did not boil the tomatoes to remove the skins and the second time we did. I would say this is an optional step but certainly worth the time and effort to do it.

-We used our homemade pie crust instead of store bought

-I like to slice the tomatoes into slices rather than wedges, like so ...

Showcasing the gorgeous heirloom tomatoes from our CSA

-In a small mixing bowl I combined the mayonnaise and shredded cheese so it would make preparing the pie a little bit easier. To this I added a small diced onion and a pasta sprinkle seasoning blend. The second time we made this I caramelized the onions and layered them onto the bottom of the crust and omitted them from the mayo spread mixture. A lot of onion flavor was lost this way so we said "thumbs down" to the caramelized onions.

-We served the pie with a nice, fresh salad with red peppers and sunflower seeds.

This will convert anyone to a tomato pie lover. It's  worth noting that he was quite skeptical when he came home one day and I said "we're having tomato pie for dinner!" I knew Patrick had greatly enjoyed that first tomato pie but didn't know how much. When I sent him a chat that I was meal planning and asked if he would like another one, this was his reply:

And you know you can't argue with Patrick!

Anyone else out there like tomato pie?!

Coming in with a cat pic...

They play together so well!