Onion Pie

I went to make the Tomato Pie again to have something to eat and use up leftovers before Memorial Day, and I realized that all my tomatoes traveled north with my parents. Whoops. Having already pre-baked the crust I elected to try Onion Pie instead

Set 1:
1 pie crust (pre-baked)
5 Yellow onions (medium-sized)
5 Cloves of garlic
1 tbsp Sage
1 tsp black pepper
Butter

Set 2:
1/2 cup milk (more or less)
2 eggs
1/2 bag of grated cheddar cheese
1/2 bag of grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise




1. Pre-bake the pie crust at ~450 degrees F for ~8-10 minutes if you haven't already.
2. Pre-heat or turn down the oven to 350 degrees F
3. Slice the onions
4. Mince the garlic
5. Put the first set of ingredients in a frying pan over medium-low heat until the onions are translucent, ~20 minutes. Turn over every few minutes to make sure it is all cooked through.
6. In a mixing bowl, mix the second set of ingredients.
7. Pour the onions evenly into the pie crust
8. Pour the dairy mixture on top of the onions
9. Spread the mayonnaise  over the top of the cheese
10 Bake at 350 degrees F for ~30 minutes.


In conclusion, it is an incredibly rich pie, and tastes excellent but you can't eat much of it at a time.

Spinach-Tomato Quiche

Prep ~20 minutes, Cook ~45 minutes, Cool ~20 minutes

• 1 Pie Crust (9" pan)
• Crumbled feta cheese (3/4 the round container)
• 2 packed cups fresh spinach (I removed the stems for consistency's sake, but after wilting the spinach I don't know that it would have made that much difference. Frozen drained spinach would probably have worked just as well too.)
• Olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup heavy cream (the half-pint container)
• 1 green onion (you could use chives too, but my cats ate my chive plant last week)
• 1 Tomato, chopped
• Black pepper

1. Heat olive oil to a pan then cook the spinach until its wilted (~2-3 minutes)
2. Crumble the feta cheese into the bottom of the pie crust
3. Add the spinach on top of the feta cheese. Tease it out a little bit so the spinach isn't solid lumps.
4. Beat together the garlic, eggs, and cream. Pour over the spinach and cheese. Stir gently a little bit to make sure it gets into the spinach.
5. Evenly spread the chopped tomato over the pie. 
6. Sprinkle the top liberally with green onion and black pepper.
7. Bake ~45 minutes, until it's at a quiche-y consistency.

The original recipe only called for 3/4 cup heavy cream. I don't like having leftovers. The consistency seemed to come out pretty well despite the extra cream. I made this for an office party concurrently with the tomato pie. Total cook time from prep start to serving was 1.5 hours. Transport in pizza boxes works really well.

Also, cook the pies on top of a cookie sheet to catch any spills, especially if your oven isn't quite level.

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.)