Tomato PIE!

smittenkitchen.com

Somehow, I have not heard of this site before. Maybe you haven’t either. If not, well, prepare for your life to be changed a little bit. Mine was.

I have recently gotten in to one of those cooking lulls where I’m not particularly inspired to experiment or even cook for that matter, and of course this tends to make me upset because I feel like I should ALWAYS be inspired in the kitchen. However, after a friend mentioned smittenkitchen my outlook quickly changed. Maybe it’s her beautiful photography, or maybe her description of everything as mouthwateringly delicious, or maybe some strange cosmic relation we share, but I was immediately inspired and started writing an ingredient list for the 12 things I wanted to make, that day.

I will take it slow here and start with the first one which I made the other night, tomato pie. TOMATO PIE! Who would have thought it existed? Not I. Even better, it is actually tomato and CORN pie. Two of my favorite things, combined with cheese, encased in a doughy delight. What is not to love?

For the full recipe follow link below.

Recipe is taken with a couple of changes from smittenkitchen, who adapted from Gourmet’s August 2009 version. I served it with a salad with homemade creamy buttermilk dressing (also from smittenkitchen — recipe to follow, soon). Bon appetit!

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons or 3 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, plus 2 teaspoons melted
3/4 cup whole milk
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 3/4 pounds beefsteak tomatoes
1 1/2 cups corn (from about 3 ears), coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped basil
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
7 ounces coarsely grated sharp Cheddar (1 3/4 cups)

Directions

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 3/4 tsp salt in a bowl, then blend in cold butter (3/4 stick) with your fingertips or a pastry blender until it resembles coarse meal. Add milk, stirring until mixture just forms a dough, then gather into a ball.

Divide dough in half and roll out one piece on a well-floured counter into a 12-inch round (1/8 inch thick). Either fold the round gently in quarters, lift it into a 9-inch pie plate and gently unfold and center it. Pat the dough in with your fingers trim any overhang.

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. If your kitchen is excessively warm, as ours is, go ahead and put the second half of the dough in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. Whisk together mayonnaise and lemon juice.

Cut an X in bottom of each tomato and blanch in a large pot of boiling water 10 seconds. Immediately transfer with a slotted spoon to an ice bath to cool. Peel tomatoes, then slice crosswise 1/4 inch thick and gently remove seeds and extra juices. Arrange half of tomatoes in crust, overlapping, and sprinkle with half of corn, one tablespoon basil, 1/2 tablespoon chives, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper and one cup of grated cheese. Repeat layering with remaining tomatoes, corn, basil, chives, salt, and pepper. Pour lemon mayonnaise over filling and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Roll out remaining piece of dough into a 12-inch round in same manner, then fit over filling, folding overhang under edge of bottom crust and pinching edge to seal. Cut 4 steam vents in top crust and brush crust with melted butter (2 teaspoons). Bake pie until crust is golden and filling is bubbling, 30 to 35 minutes, then cool on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.