BetNC said: The recipe was for Kiniston's Restaurant Famous Southern Tomato pie (the onlyn alterations In made was to add half a pound of cooked, crumbled thick cut bacon to each layer. . and the topping/cheese was a substitution of mozzzarella, cheddar, asiago and monteray jack instead of the cheeses called for -that I don't like)
blind-bake a pie crust (I used Pillsbury frozen pie cryust)
Filling:
divide into two: 3.5# of cored de-seeded and 1/2" diced fresh tomatoes
toss half with salt amd sugar, and place in a colander in the sink for >= 1 hour to drain
toss the other half with salt, basil, thyme and olive oil and spread in one thin layer on a sheet pan: roast ~ 20 minutes until tomatos get a bit brown
Thinly slice a large yellow onion with the grain: melt 1 tbs butter in skillet over medium-low - carmelize onions
line a sheet pan with 2 layers of parchment paper, arrange bacon slices: oven fry @ 400 for ~20 min, removing to paper plates immediately to drain
Once all the ingredients have been prepared, begin filling the pie shell with 3 layers:
Tomatoes (fresh + roasted + freshly ground black pepper)
carmelized onions
bacon
repeat layering two more times
Topping
mix mayonnaise with all the various grated cheese:spread from edge to edge
Thinly slice 2 large heirloom tomatoes, blot dry with paper towels: lay ontop of cheese mixture
Bake on middle shelf @350 for ~ 30 minutes - until cheeses are bubbly
Eat either warm or room temperature
Once the tomatoes were cored and de-seeded, it went rather quickly - but by that time I was SO over it!
Thanks. The only suggestions I might make would be 1) roast all of the tomatoes, except those used for garnish. OR (not AND) 2)use the tomatoes as called for without bothering to seed them - but bake the pie without the mayo and cheese addition for a good 20 or 30 minutes to dry them, then spread the cheese and mayo mix and bake until browned and bubbly (this is the option I would try). I have to admit, though, that it is not the kind of recipe that appeals to me at all and seems way too heavy. I agree with you that the notion of crisp pastry and garden fresh tomatoes is a winner so might I suggest you try making the french version; a tomato tart? I say that summer 'aint summer without tomato tart - in fact I should make another one tonight or tomorrow...or when it cools down enough (next week) to turn the oven on. If you are interested, my version is as simple as can be and doesn't even really require a recipe. Make a basic pastry, if you own a food processor it takes less time to make the pastry than to open a packaged one. Well, almost. The easiest method is to cut butter into sugar cube sized pieces and put them in the freezer. Add ice to a cup or so of water in a measuring cup. In the bowl of your food processor place flour, salt and sugar... (measurements depend on the size tart you want to make, but the ratio by weight always remains the same; 3 parts flour to two parts fat to roughly one part liquid. If you are new to this do a small batch and make it easy - so something like 9 ounces flour (that would be your 'three parts') and six ounces butter (two parts). With this volume flour in the bowl of your processor add a scant teaspoon salt and about 1/4 teaspoon sugar (the sugar is not for flavor but to add to the color of the pastry so you can omit it if you want). Pulse to blend the dry ingredients together. Add the cubed frozen butter, Pulse in long pulses until the butter and flour looks like coarse meal. With the processor running drizzle iced water into the bowl until the dough just begins to come together. Dump onto a very lightly floured surface and with just two or three gatherings and gentle pushes amalgamate into a ball, wrap in plastic and chill. While it chills, remove the stem/core from four large tomatoes, slice them evenly into about 3/8" tranches. Lay the slices in a single layer atop clean tea towels or layers of paper toweling, cover with more toweling and press gently - a forceful blotting, really. Leave the tomatoes while the pastry fully chills; at least an hour. Once chilled, roll your pastry out to about 1/8" and place in a tart pan. Quickly spoon about three tablespoons of good Dijon mustard on the pastry base and with the back of the spoon spread it evenly, return the pan to the refrigerator. Grate no more than two ounces (I tend to use less) of the best quality gruyere you can. I prefer a cave aged gruyere for its richness, you can also use a high quality emmenthal though it will be less flavorful. Now, single layer tomato slices on the pastry, do not overlap the slices. Fill voids between slices by breaking pieces from tomatoes or by pushing tomatoes into form, it should be a fully covered pastry base of a single depth. No seasoning...no salt...no herbs...just tomatoes. Sprinkle with the grated cheese - it is meant to be a very light dusting -and bake in a preheated 425 ish oven until the pastry edges are deeply browned and you begin to see the edges of the tomato slices darkening; this takes longer than you expect perhaps 40 minutes. If you are not a fan of dark pastry you can wrap the pastry edge in foil to protect it for the necessarily long baking, just remove the foil from the edge in the last 10 minutes+/-. Cool for 10 or so minutes before removing from the pan. Serve warm or room temp.
Seriously one of the best and simplest summer dishes I know (and I know a lot of summer dishes). If you decide to try it I beg you to do so the first time without altering the dish - then tweak it to your liking. Just don't tell me because I will think 'blasphemy'.
