Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Tomato Pie

The tomatoes in this picture, photographed by The Magnificent Boris, were grown in my own yard from seeds that I planted. One of my neighbors told me "they'll never grow", but I really proved her wrong.
A different neighbor made a tomato pie from her homegrown tomatoes and it made our mouths freak out with happiness, so I had to share her recipe with you!

RACHEL’S TOMATO PIE

Filling:
2 or 3 large ripe tomatoes or 2 cups of cherry tomatoes, sliced
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, minced
Handful of basil leaves, chopped
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon salt

Pie crust:
½ cup brown rice flour
½ cup spelt flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Approximately ¼ cup cold water

Topping:
2 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
2 ounces grated parmesan cheese

Combine sliced tomatoes and all other filling ingredients into a bowl. Cover and let
marinate at room temperature for about 6 hours or so.
Spray a 9 inch pie plate with spray oil.
For the pie crust, mix flours and salt, add olive oil and stir with a fork until mixture
resembles corn meal. Add water, just a little at a time while stirring with the fork, until the very moment it holds together in
a ball. Flour a wooden cutting board with spelt flour and roll out the dough into a circle with a rolling
pin. Transfer to the oiled pie plate.
Sprinkle about ½ of the cheeses onto the crust, add the marinated tomatoes, top with
the remaining cheeses.
Bake at 425 until crust is browned, about 30 minutes. Cool to room temperature before
serving.

8 comments:

  1. Julie - I don't think I've mentioned how much I enjoy this blog of yours. And your wealth of knowledge and experience. :-) Thanks for sharing.

    I make a simple variation of your tomato pie when my cherry tomatoes ripen (I am an addictive gardener) - Using the crust of your choice, spread on a baking sheet and prick it with a fork and sprinkle on a little grated romano pecorino and bake at 425 for about 10 minutes or until it's lightly browned.

    In the meantime, halve enough fully ripe cherry tomatoes to cover your crust, and when the crust is done, arrange cut-side down and touching across the surface. You can sprinkle with a bit of salt/pepper/garlic if desired, some goat cheese crumbles and a few splashes of balsamic vinegar. Return to the oven for about 10 minutes or so, or until the tomatoes are warm and soft.

    When it has cooled just enough to cut, sprinkle with fresh basil just before eating. (Lemon basil is God's gift to the herb world. SO delicious, and my favorite to pair with tomatoes).

    If I have made the crust in advance, this is a really quick, easy and luscious dish, and one of my summer favorites.

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  2. Thanks Tara! This sounds great and a little simpler than my version. Lemon basil is indeed wonderful--so is lemon thyme.
    Yay for tomato pie!
    PS Your website is cool!

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  3. I just added this to my recipe folder. I plan to use it very soon. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Here's something I'd love to read: a Julie Bell/ Tara Chang collaborative cookbook! Tara is well known for her endless supply of salivation worthy recipes. Julie has plenty too, and no one knows more about making healthy meals than she does. So I'd love to see a cookbook where there's the full-fat-and-sugar-not-so-good-for-you-but-darned-tasty version on one side and the fully healthy sugar free, gluten free version on the other. That way people could gradually learn how to translate ANY recipe they loved into a healthier version...or they could do it in steady increments if they aren't quite willing to give up refined sugar for stevia anytime soon. Just an idea anyway. ;-)

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  5. That is a very fun idea Jen. Plus, I would like to figure out ways to 'healthify' the things I cook. I've cut out the worst fat/sugar offenders most of the time, but haven't taken the time to truly translate into completely healthy... hmmm....

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  6. I've never seen a cookbook like that out there. That doesn't mean that one does not exist, but I usually keep an eye out for such things and haven't seen anything like it yet. Plenty of healthy cooking books, gluten free, sugar free, salt free, etc., but nothing with a side by side comparison of recipes. I think that would help a lot of people who don't want to totally let go of old favorites, but who also know that the old favorites aren't doing them much good in their present form. Like right now I'm wondering if there's a healthy non-sugary way to carmelize onions!

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  7. I will definitely have to try this. I also like the variations written in the comments, thanks for sharing this.

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  8. I don't know about that Jen - I don't add sugar when I carmelize onions, I just use sweet onions and cook for a long long time on low heat (and sometimes add Balsamic vinegar), and the natural sugars supposedly carmelize on their own - which is super delicious and supposedly not good for you at all. It seems very unfair. :-)

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