The tomato pie last night turned out scrumptiously. Up to this point, I’ve linked to the recipe at Home Ec 101 (and you should still stop by and pay them a visit) but I think I’m going to make a few “as-built” modifications and annotate a couple of things for more novice cooks and post my own version of the recipe here.

Tomato Pie
1 refrigerated pie crust (9″ pie), top and bottom. You will find this near the cans of biscuits and crescent rolls in the dairy case.
4 ripe tomatoes
1/2 medium onion
1 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
4 slices center-cut bacon, cooked and crumbled
3 T. mayonnaise
1 t. dried basil
salt / pepper

Peel the tomatoes. You do this by plunging them into boiling water for 10 seconds to loosen the skin, then cut a little “x” in the skin and it will peel right off. Cut out the stem end of each tomato, Cut the tomatoes into wedges and scoop or squeeze the seeds from each wedge. Cut each wedge into thin slices, crosswise or lengthwise.

Toss the sliced tomatoes with a little salt and pepper and place them in a colander over a bowl to drain. The salt will pull some moisture out of the tomatoes while you work with the other ingredients.

NOTE: Seeding and draining the tomatoes is very important so that the pie does not become too watery, which turns the bottom crust into goo. Peeling the tomatoes is a good idea, because some people don’t like getting little scrolled-up pieces of tomato skin between their teeth, but if your family doesn’t mind and you want to avoid putting on a pot of water, that’s your business.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Slice the half onion very thinly and break it up into individual slivers or half-rings.

In a bowl combine the cheese, bacon, and mayo. Mix thoroughly.

Carefully unroll and lay the bottom pie crust in a 9″ pie plate or disposable pie tin. Evenly distribute half the tomatoes across the bottom of the crust, sprinkle with half the sliced onion and half of the dried basil. Repeat with the remaining tomatoes, onion, and basil.

Spread the cheese mixture evenly over the top of the tomatoes. Add the second crust, fold the edges of the top and bottom crusts together, and crimp them sealed by pressing down on them with the tines of a fork. Cut several slits in the top to allow steam to escape. (Cut deeply, down through the layer of cheese.)

Bake for 30 minutes. Check to see if the top crust is browning; if it is, cover it with a circle of foil or an upside-down pie tin. Bake 15 minutes more.

Allow the pie to cool slightly so that it won’t run when you cut it. It can be served warm or at room temperature, if you can wait that long.

I kept meaning to make tomato pie, with the recipe from the Home Ec 101 blog, but I was waiting for someone to give me a bunch of home-grown tomatoes. I got one or two, but never enough at once, and today the subject of tomato pie came up and I was jonesing for it. So I went and bought the tomatoes. The pie is in the oven. As was the case the first time I tried this recipe, I had a surplus of cheddar cheese and so I have used 100 percent cheddar instead of 50/50 cheddar and Monterey jack. It won’t matter in the slightest.

If you’ve never made this, you need to — as soon as possible. You may look over the ingredient list and think, “yeah, I guess that sounds okay,” but in this case it’s much better than just okay. Somehow, in this particular recipe, one plus one makes three. It’s a perfect combination of flavors.