Recipe: tomato pie

It's that time of year again.  Every person lucky enough to have a garden seems to have veggies coming out of their ears and they're trying desperately to foist them off onto the gardenless so all of that delicious produce doesn't go to waste. Unfortunately, I'm one of the sad gardenless; however, I am rolling in fresh, free produce courtesy of my overly-productive co-workers. I've gotten my hands on garden fresh eggplant, zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes and have enjoyed coming up with new and exciting ways to prepare them.  I recently stumbled across a tomato pie recipe on Pinterest (have I mentioned how much I LOVE pinterest.com??) and simply knew I had to try it. 

Now I realize that tomato pie might sound just a wee bit strange.  However, this is a savory pie meant to be a meal, not a sweet pie for dessert. I won't lie, there is a bit of sweetness from the cooked tomatoes and onions but it's a very nice compliment to the tart and salty yogurt-cheese topping. I won't lie, I had my doubts about how this would turn out; but the first tomatoy-cheesey bite was sheer bliss!  And bonus, it was ridiculously easy to make.

You will need:

• 1 whole Deep Dish Pie Crust, Store Bought Or Your Favorite Recipe
• 4  Tomatoes
• 1 cup Monterey Jack Cheese, Grated
• 1 cup Cheddar Cheese, Grated
• 1 cup Greek-style Yogurt
• ¼ cups Fresh Basil Leaves
• ½ cups Chopped Vidalia Onion
• ½ teaspoons Salt Plus Extra For Sprinkling On The Tomatoes To Remove Moisture
• ¼ teaspoons Black Pepper

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Put your pie crust into your deep dish pie plate. Using a fork poke holes in the bottom of your pie crust. (This is called docking.) Place into the preheated oven and allow to bake for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

While your pie shell is cooking slice tomatoes thinly and layer them in a colander in your sink. Sprinkle with salt and allow them to drain while your shell is cooking. You can also dab the tomatoes with a paper towel to get some of the excess water off of them. This is an important step because if you do not get most of the liquid out, the bottom of your pie will be soggy.

By now your pie crust should be removed from the oven. Allow it to cool for a little while while you make the topping.

Combine the two cheeses and yogurt in a medium bowl.

Layer the tomatoes, then the basil and then the onion into the pie shell. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread your cheese and yogurt mixture on top of the tomatoes. Put it into the oven and allow it to cook for 30 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Garnish with more basil if desired.

When making this dish, I used two red tomatoes and two yellow heirloom tomatoes, you can use whatever you like or can get your hands on. I also used caramelized onions because I couldn't find sweet onions and figured it couldn't hurt to add a bit more flavor.  While they were a delicious addition, I think just dicing a Vidalia onion would still be quite tasty and less time consuming. I definitely cheated and used a Pillsbury pie crust. I mean, why reinvent the wheel?
 
All in all this was a very satisfying meal.  I had it with a tossed salad and it was light and refreshing. There was a bit of extra moisture from the tomatoes that I drained off of the pie once it was cut but I think really pressing the tomato slices before baking it would eliminate the need.  This is definitely going into the will make again file.