It’s a dark, cold, wet, and windy this next-to-last-day of November and it feels like a day for comfort food. Specifically, tomato pie!
My cousin Lex introduced us to tomato pie five or six years ago. I fell in love with it immediately and have never figured out why I’d never eaten it or even seen or heard of it before. I’ve since learned that there are two types of tomato pie – northern and southern.
The northern variety is more like a pizza than a traditional pie but, unlike the familiar New York-style pizza (which is a lot like the pizza from Naples), northern tomato pie resembles the not-so-familiar pizza from Sicily. It calls for a porous, focaccia-like dough and is baked on a large aluminum pan and served in square slices. It is a popular recipe in Italian-American communities of the northeastern United States. Trenton, New Jersey is a town known for its tomato pies and has the second oldest tomato pie restaurant in the U.S. (Imagine! There are even tomato pie restaurants!)
That, however, is NOT that type of tomato pie that is calling to me this morning. The tomato pie that Lex brought to our house that long-ago evening, the tomato pie that immediately went to the top of my Comfort Food List, involves tomatoes, mayo, basil, and cheese baked in a pie shell. Actually, it’s probably at the top of my Sinful Comfort Food List! Bring it on!
Sydney, It sounds great are you sharing the recipe?
?
Oh, sure. (But there are about a zillion variations online that you might want to check out.)
1 9″ pie shell
3-4 (1-1/4#) tomatoes, wedged or chopped (sometimes we slice) and peeled (sometimes we don’t.)
3/4 cup mayonnaise (Best Foods original — none of that low fat stuff)
6 oz shredded Cheddar cheese (we’ve used Monterrey Jack, too — great!)
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
garlic to taste (about 4 cloves)
1 T dried basil
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese (fresh grated if you have it)
Mix tomatoes, mayo, cheese, and onion. Pour into browned pie shell; top with basil and Parmesan cheese and bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour. Serves 4.
Thanks for sharing the recipe. I have never heard of tomato pie! Somehow it reminds me of your spinach and artichoke dish…probably the mayo and Parmesan…love it, but haven’t made it for quite awhile.
Oooh, that recipe is a keeper!
I’ve never heard of it either. I don’t know about that amount of mayo. I might just use eggs, but then it would be quiche which I like. Thanks for the recipe!
OH WOW! Definitely don’t omit mayo! I made this the day you posted this, found some Tillamook extra sharp, black label cheese on sale and used the last of our brandywine tomatoes from the garden (I don’t know how I still have fresh tomatoes either…I picked them green and have ripened them on top of the fridge this fall). It was tremendous! 3 adults ate almost the whole pie! With a big salad and a lovely glass of wine, this was one of the best new recipes I’ve tried in ages! Thanks for sharing!