Southern Tomato Pie

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Y’all, I have so many friends and family even that has never tried a tomato pie.  Most think it is just going to be a big ole dish of tomato’s with juice running all over the place.  There couldn’t be anything farther from the truth.  Tomato pies go back decades and were a great way to use up all the tomato’s we had growing on the vines mid to late summer.

I will tell you one thing. The best, and I do mean the very best tomato pies are made with heirloom tomato’s.  They are so sweet and so flavorful that they make your pies taste just go over the top.  I have been telling people for years that they don’t know what a tomato tastes like.  I’m always laughed at as they say “we eat tomato’s all the time, we know what they taste like”.  Well I’m here to tell you that all those store bought, green house raised tomato’s you find in the store, do NOT taste like a true tomato.  They have not grown in the sun and developed the sweetness slowly over time that lends itself to an amazing flavorful fruit.  I can remember many times growing up I’d walk through moms garden and pull a tomato from the vine.  I’d wipe off the dirt on my shirt and eat that thing like an apple.  Now that’s tasting a real tomato.

So today I am going to show you how I put my tomato pie together.  I started off with a home made crust but you can use store bought if you like.  I did add something a little different today.  I put a small layer (well not so small) of my Bourbon Bacon Jam as the bottom layer of my pie.  I’ll tell you what.  I will never make another tomato pie without adding this to it.  It through the flavor level right over the top for me.   You can also make this in a cast iron skillet as well.

So here ya go.  Enjoy the video and the entire recipe is below as well.

Ingredients:

• pie crust (homemade or store bought)
• 4 Large Heirloom tomato’s
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 heaping tablespoons sour cream
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• Fresh Basil – two to three crowns
• Fresh Oregano – about 3-4 stems
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup shredded Colby Jack cheese (you can use cheddar or whatever flavor you like)
• 1/2 a cup or so of my bourbon bacon jam
• tablespoon garlic powder
• pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Slice your tomatoes about 1/4-1/2 inch thick slices.
2. Now here you can either spread them out on a paper towel and sprinkle with salt to pull out the moisture or layer them in a colander sprinkling each layer with salt to drain)
3. Place your pie crust in pie dish and fitting to the dish.
4. Now add just enough of the two cheeses to lightly cover the pie crust
5. Then blind bake your pie crust for about 10 minutes, remove from oven and set aside to cool.
6. While your pie crust bakes mix your mayo, sour cream and about 1/2 of the herbs together in a small dish.
7. Once your tomato’s are drained really well, you can discard the juice and begin layering the pie
8. Spread a small layer of the bourbon bacon jam over the bottom of the crust.
9. Follow this with a layer of tomato’s, a pinch of the garlic powder, a few cranks of the ground pepper and just a bit of salt.
10. Sprinkle on about a third of each of the cheeses
11. Repeat steps 9 and 10 till you come to the last layer of tomatoes.
12. Now sprinkle with red pepper flakes and remaining garlic powder
13. Spread the mayo/sour cream mixture over tomato’s evenly and top with final layer of tomatoes and remaining cheese.
14. Top with a bit more of the herbs, saving some to garnish after baking.
15. Bake at 350 F for about 30-35 minutes.
16. Let cool about 20 minutes before cutting.