Tomato Pie

Ingredients:

Prep ~20 minutes, Cook ~30 minutes, Cool ~20 minutes. Prep is significantly shorter if you cheat like I did and buy pre-made pie crust and pre-shredded cheese.

Pie Crust (9-inch pan)
3 Ripe Tomatoes
Salt
~1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
~1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 Cloves garlic, minced
 Basil
~ 1/2 cup Mayonnaise




1. Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Poke holes in the bottom and sides of the pie crust and bake ~10 minutes (I don't actually know why I poke holes in it, I've just always done it. It probably doesn't make a difference). Let it cool. Turn the oven down to 350 degrees.
3. Slice the tomatoes and lay them flat. Lightly salt. Let them sit for ~10 minutes, then blot any excess water. (This I do know why you do - it's so your crust doesn't end up soggy.
4. Put a layer of tomato slices at the bottom of the pie crust.
5. Sprinkle garlic and basil liberally on the tomatoes.
6. Sprinkle half of each of the cheeses on top of the tomatoes.
7. Repeat steps 4-5-6 with the rest of the ingredients.
8. Spread the mayonnaise over the top of the pie. This is slightly more complicated a step than those words indicate, because the top layer is shredded cheese and tends to squeegee around as you spread it. I might try mixing the cheese and mayonnaise before putting it onto the pie next time, but that might require measuring to figure out exactly how much mayonnaise is needed.
9. Bake at 350 for ~30 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling. Let the pie cool enough that you can eat it without burning your mouth.


When you are layering, you can layer a little bit above the edges of the pie crust. The cheese will melt into the tomatoes and it will lose a little bit of height. For decoration, I would probably bake tomato slices onto the top, and add some fresh basil leaves after its baked for garnish.


I made this and the spinach-tomato quiche for an office party. Tip for transporting them: Pizza boxes. They're the right shape, keep everything flat and contained, you don't have to cool the pies quite as much in order to take them safely in the car, and they insulate it enough that they're still warm when you arrive. (I let them cool for ~10 minutes before I took them on a 15 minute commute and they came out at exactly the right temperature.)