by EMERSON SLOANE
As a kid and many years into my adulthood I used to absolutely hate tomatoes unless they were mashed and cooked into a sauce or served as ketchup on a hamburger. That's until I tasted a real tomato. And by real tomato, I mean the kind of tomato grown and fresh from a garden as opposed to the mounds and mounds of standardized red tomatoes one finds in the supermarket, usually out of season. They honestly don't taste like anything once you've had the pleasure of having the real thing. I prefer the variety, textures, and tastes of heirloom tomatoes. These are tomatoes that are open-pollinated, nonhybrid fruits derived from seeds that are cultivated over many generations without making genetic alterations to them in order to make them of uniform size and color. The grand variety of heirloom tomatoes, makes not only for a visually arresting food combination, but it allows for a variation of tastes from one type of tomato to the next. Fortunately, you can plant your own or, as I do, you can spend some leisurely time at your local farmers' markets to find the ones that look and feel best for your recipes.
Tomato pie is a great southern staple. No, it is not pizza, as you'll discover not if, but when you make this recipe for yourself, family, or friends. Remember, we here at Haven espouse the French philosophy of social eating, so invite some friends over for a satisfying serving along with a glass or three of a Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc or other full-bodied white wine. The best tomato pie recipe I've found comes from Chef & The Farmer, a restaurant in Kinston, North Carolina, by Chef Vivian Howard.
For the Filling
2 cups diced and drained fresh tomatoes
2 cups diced and roasted tomatoes
1 cup caramelized onions
1/2 cup picked basil
salt
pepper
sugar
1 deep dish pie crust
For the diced and drained tomatoes
Seed and dice about 3 cups fresh, high-quality tomatoes. Toss them with a little kosher salt and sugar. Set over a colander while you prepare the remaining ingredients if possible. If not, drain for a minimum of an hour. You should be left with about 2 cups of tomato.
For the roasted tomatoes
Seed and dice 4 cups fresh, high quality tomatoes. Toss them with olive oil (at C&F we use garlic oil), plenty of kosher salt, and several sprigs of thyme. Spread this mix out on a baking sheet and roast at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. You want the tomatoes to be dry and slightly caramelized, but not burned around the edges.
For the Onions
Peel and slice (with the grain) 4 medium yellow onions. In a large sauté pan, heat 1/4 cup butter. Add the onions and season them with salt. Let the onions simmer and become juicy. Once the situation becomes a bit drier and much of the onion liquid has cooked out, turn down the heat, to its lowest setting and settle in for a long, slow caramelize. To get these onions where they need to be, it could take about 2 hours. You are looking for a medium brown, sweet caramelization.
To Assemble the Filling
Combine the onions, fresh tomatoes, roasted tomatoes, basil, salt, pepper, and sugar to taste. Keep in mind, tomatoes take a lot of seasoning to really make them shine in applications like this.
Now, what about that pie crust? With pies that contain a lot of moisture, like this tomato pie, you can't just dump the filling into the crust and bake it. The bottom will become soggy during baking. You'll want to "blind bake" your chilled pie crust. Fear not, we've included a video courtesy of Epicurious, sponsored by Land Rover that will give you easy, breezy instructions on how to blind bake your pie crust.
For the Topping
1/3 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1/3 cup grated Fontina
1/2 cup mayo
To Bake and Serve
Spread the filling over the bottom of a blind-baked crust. Flatten the topping between wax paper or use your good ol’ hands to create a 1/3 inch thick round of delicious, cheesy topping that spreads nearly to the edges of the pie. Bake at 375 degrees until the top is nicely browned...20-25 minutes. Serve at just over room temperature.
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