This savory pie is one of my favorite ways to enjoy perfectly ripe summer tomatoes. Just fill a standard pie shell with fresh tomato slices and flavor-packed creamy filling, crown it with buttery cracker crumbs, and pop it in the oven a few minutes.
Fresh tomatoes are the star of the pie, so they must be glorious and fully ripe, ideally homegrown or from a local farmers market or produce stand. Not even salt and mayonnaise can redeem sad, out-of-season tomatoes. If you like, add a little crisp bacon for tomato pie that’s reminiscent of a great BLT.
Ripe tomatoes should be juicy and drippy, but tomato pie should not. The key to enhancing the tomato flavor without sogging the pie is to salt and drain the tomatoes, which adds seasoning and takes away excess liquid. It’s easy and well worth the 15 minutes.
Best Way to Blind Bake
A blind-baked pie shell is partially or fully baked before it’s filled. For this tomato pie, you need a fully baked and cooled crust. Here’s how I do it:
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Line a well-chilled pastry pie shell with aluminum foil that covers it entirely with a generous overhang to use to lift out the sugar later. Fill the shell with granulated sugar, pressing it firmly into the edges. Set the pie plate on a baking sheet and bake until the pastry is firm and deep golden brown, about 40 minutes. You can check the doneness by lifting the edge of the foil and peeking. When done, fold up the corners of the foil to make a pouch and carefully lift it out before letting the crust cool. Store the cooled sugar in an airtight container to reuse in other pie shells. The sugar can be used multiple times, although discard if it begins to look or smell oily.
Sheri Castle’s Tomato Pie
Makes: 6 to 8 servings
- 1 (9 or 9½ inch) pie shell, fully blind-baked and cooled
- 2 ½ to 3 pounds ripe tomatoes, sliced
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- ¾ cup freshly shredded Gruyere cheese
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons scallions, finely chopped
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon celery seed
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons lightly packed basil leaves, coarsely chopped
- 1/3 cup chopped crisp bacon (optional)
- ½ cup saltine crackers, coarsely crushed to crumbs
- ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut the tomatoes into ¼-inch-thick slices. Cover a wire rack with a double layer of paper towels and set it over the sink to catch any drips. Arrange the tomato slices in a single layer on the paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Let drain for 15 minutes. Blot the tomatoes dry with fresh paper towels.
3. Arrange half of the tomatoes in the bottom of the fully blind-baked pie shell.
4. Stir together the Gruyere, mayonnaise, scallions, lemon zest and juice, celery seed, and pepper, then spread over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with basil. Add the bacon, if using. Arrange the rest of the tomatoes over the top.
5. Toss together the cracker crumbs, Parmesan and butter then sprinkle over the pie.
6. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool completely before serving. Tomato pie is best eaten the day it’s made because it turns soggy. If that’s not a deal breaker, refrigerate any leftovers.
Sheri Castle is the host of The Key Ingredient, an Emmy Award-winning show from PBS North Carolina. She is also an award-winning food writer, recipe developer and cooking teacher. The Southern Foodways Alliance named her one of 20 Living Legends of Southern Food, calling her The Storyteller. She grew up in Watauga County and now lives in Chatham County. Keep tabs on her at shericastle.com.
