My Version of Tomato Pie

Yeoldfurt posted on his blog recently about the Tomato Pie recipe and how much he liked it.  I had never heard of the dish until a girlfriend mentioned it a couple of weeks ago.  When I first described it to Yeoldfurt, he really didn't act too enthused.  His hesitation made me a little apprehensive, but I made it anyway and he loved it.  He raved about while he was eating and told me I should post the recipe.  Then he ate the whole thing before I got a picture of it.  I was going to wait until I made it again so I could post a picture with the recipe, but apparently KX59 emailed him the other day and is anxious.  So I here it is...

I started with the basic recipe at Simply Recipes website and tweaked it for my own purposes.  This is what it looks like when you make it according to the recipe on the website.

Ingredients

• 1 9-inch pie shell
• 1/2 yellow or red onion, chopped
• 3-4 tomatoes, cut in half horizontally, squeezed to remove excess juice, roughly chopped, to yield approximately 3 cups chopped tomatoes
• 1/4 cup sliced basil (about 8 leaves)*
• 2 cups grated cheese (combination of sharp cheddar and Monterey Jack, or Gruyere or Mozarella)
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon (or more to taste) of Frank's Hot Sauce (or Tabasco)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place pie shell in oven and cook for 8-10 minutes or longer until lightly golden. If you are starting with a frozen crust, you'll need to cook it a little longer. If you are using a homemade crust, freeze the crust first, then line the crust with aluminum foil and pre-bake it for 20 minutes, then remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes. Squeeze as much moisture as you can out of the chopped tomatoes, using either paper towels, a clean dish towel, or a potato ricer. Sprinkle the bottom of the pre-cooked pie shell with chopped onion. Spread the chopped tomatoes over the onions. Sprinkle the sliced basil over the tomatoes.  In a medium bowl, mix together the grated cheese, mayonnaise, Tabasco, a sprinkling of salt and freshly ground black pepper. The mixture should be the consistency of a gooey snow ball. Spread the cheese mixture over the tomatoes.

 

Place in oven and bake until browned and bubbly, anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes. 

 

I'm a tweaker when it comes to recipes.  I've been cooking for several decades and been cooking for Yeoldfurt for over 12 years now.  I know what I like and I know what Yeoldfurt likes, so I'm not afraid to tweak.  When I made this recipe, I used a 6x10-inch pyrex baking dish.  Instead of making a pastry pie shell, I sprayed the pan with olive oil cooking spray and layered the bottom with crushed Ritz crackers, about 1/4-inch deep.  I doubled the onions (one whole onion) and caramelized it in four tablespoons of butter.  I poured the caramelized onions and butter evenly over the crushed crackers.  I sprinkled this layer lightly with Parmesan Cheese.  I spread my three cups of chopped, drained fresh Roma tomatoes over the onions.  Yeoldfurt likes anything hot and spicy so I added a well-drained can of Rotel on top of the fresh tomatoes.  Instead of basil, I used dried crushed red peppers (the kind they serve with pizza) on top of the tomatoes.  I used about four tablespoons.  I followed the crushed red peppers with another light dusting of Parmesan cheese.  For the top layer, I mixed one cup shredded Cheddar with one cup shredded Monterrey Jack plus 3/4 cup generic Miracle Whip.  I finished with about 1/2 cup crushed Ritz crackers sprinkled on top of the cheese.  

I'm sure the dish would be good with a pastry pie crust shell on the bottom too.  I was just making it as a side dish and wanted to make it a little lighter.