This is a recipe that I snatched from my stepmother’s pile of recipe cards. It’s sort of like a quiche, but eggless and more tomato-y. Obviously.
You can use a pre-made store-bought pie crust and it’s delicious that way. I made my own pastry crust (my mother-in-law’s recipe), and it was fantastic.
The result of my recipe-thievery? Check it out.
If you’re using a pre-made crust, bake it at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 minutes before filling. If you’re going the homemade route, don’t worry about pre-baking.
Slice some large tomatoes, and place the slices on paper towels to take out a bit of the juice. If they’re too juicy, your pie could boil over and make a mess in your oven! No good.
Fill the pie shell with tomato slices. The sprinkle salt, pepper, basil, and onion powder over the tomatoes. I’m quite liberal with the basil and salt.
Mix 1/2 cup mayonnaise with 2 cups of shredded cheese (your choice of cheese). Spread this over the tomatoes.
If you’re using homemade crust, add the top and pierce for ventilation.
Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 35 minutes. I used a tin-foil shield on my crust edges for the first 20 minutes, then finished without it. Let it sit for about 10 minutes, if you can stand waiting. Then slice and serve.
Flaky Pastry Pie Crust
If you’re afraid of making crust from scratch, don’t be. I’ve made this one many times (the first couple of times under the supervision of my mother-in-law) and have never had a failure. It’s delicious and flaky each time. Perfect for tomato pie, quiches, or dessert pies.
You Will Need:
- 2 cups sifted flour (2 cups minus about 1 Tbsp, put through the sifter)
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2/3 cups shortening
- 6+ Tbsp ice water
Mix the flour and salt. Cut in shortening until the mix resembles cornmeal. I usually just do this with my fingertips, but you can use forks if you prefer that.
Sprinkle water over the surface, one Tbsp at a time, mixing lightly and quickly with a fork. When the dough holds together, do not add any more water.
Shape into 2 balls on a floured surface. Roll each ball until it’s about 3 inches larger than your pie pan. Cover with a damp cloth while you prepare the filling.
After filling, dampen the edges with water and place the top crust on the bottom, crimping edges and trimming excess.
Cut steam vents into the top, and cook according to the filling.
Hi! I'm Emily. I'm a Navy wife and stay at home mom of two beautiful children. I cook simple, delicious, grain-free recipes, do crafts, decorate my home on a budget, and keep a happy household. I tandem breastfeed, babywear, cloth diaper, practice elimination communication, homebirth, and co-sleep, but I'm not a hippie.
I needed to approximate this in a hurry, so no time to bake a pie.
In my version, I mixed low-fat plain ricotta cheese with some bread crumbs, minced garlic, fresh chopped basil, olive oil and black pepper. I used this mixture as a crust and also lightly between layers of sliced tomato drizzled with more olive oil and grated parmeson cheese. I microwaved on med/high for about 7 minutes to cook the tomatoes. Topped with a piece of pie dough that I had saved in the freezer, and put under the broiler until bubbling and browned. Very good alternative if you want a lighter taste without all the cheese/mayo, and need to pull together quickly.
hi sis,
i want to make your tomato pie,can i used butter instead of shortening,,,and also could you kindli tell me what do mean by double pie crust,,sori i am new
hope u can help n share with me by rtn mail,,thanks
singapore–jayne
Hi and thanks for your recipes,
I’m asking the same questions, plain four and is butter ok, I am about to make pasties and would like to try your flaky pastry
Thanks again
[...] had three more zucchinis that were ready to eat, so I decided to make a quiche. I started with my flaky pastry crust recipe, which makes a double crust. Instead of doing a “lid” on one quiche though, I decided [...]
[...] make my own crust (the recipe is here), but store-bought should work fine too. If you have a pastry crust recipe you like though, feel [...]
[...] posted a few times about things cooked in pie crusts: Tomato pie, Tomato Pie Again, and Zucchini [...]
[...] I had to figure out how to easily peel tomatoes for when I make my beloved tomato pie. I figured it would be easier to do all at once before cooking it than to pick out the peel pieces [...]
Meagan’s right! If you don’t use one, too often you’ll find that your crusts are dark brown and too crunchy, even if the rest of the pie is fantastic.
Jessica: You can either buy them or make them. It’s exactly that – a tinfoil covering to keep your pie-crust from burning. Pie crust edges like to burn while the rest of the crust is happily cooking away.
What is a tinfoil shield?