She's My Tomato Pie

I'm not usually a huge fan of Emeril. His recipes are nice enough, but the whole cooking in front of a cheering live audience thing kind of turns me off. Why do you need an audience, Emeril? Crap, why do I need an audience? Now I'm disturbed.

Roma Ro-Ma-Ma

My aunt Sherrie gave me this beautiful cookbook for Christmas though, and I was immediately tantalized by the recipe for "Cheesy Creole Tomato Pie." There were Roma tomatoes in my Bountiful Basket (which Nathan picked up for us since I have Saturday School for the next 5 weeks - thanks honey!), and I didn't want to make more soup or sauces.

Cheesy Tomato Pie

•  pie crust (I used a frozen pie crust from the grocery store.  Pie crust is pretty easy to make, but meh, I didn't feel like it and my kitchen is too small for extra messes)
• 1 egg, separated

• 2 lbs ripe tomatoes (Creole, Beefsteak and Heirloom were all specified as acceptable by Emeril himself)
• salt and pepper
• 4 tbsp mayo
• 1/3 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced sweet onions
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil leaves
• about 1/2 cup grated fontina cheese (according to wikipedia, Gruyere, Gouda and Edam are all fine substitutes)
• about 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
• 2 tbsp olive oil (fo drizzle)
• 2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1. Roll out the pie dough and fit into a 9 or 10 inch deep dish pie plate.
2. Preheat the oven to 375.
3. Line pie shell with aluminum foil and bake for 13 minutes.
4. Remove foil and bake 3 minutes more; let cool.
5. Lightly beat the egg white and use a pastry brush to coat the surface of the pie shell with egg white.
6. Slice tomatoes into 1/4 inch rounds.  Season with salt and pepper.
7. Combine the egg yolk with the mayonnaise.
8. Sprinkle 1/3 of the bread crumbs in the bottom of the pie shell. Layer half the sliced tomatoes to cover the bottom of the dish and top with half the onions and fresh herbs. Drizzle half the mayo mixture over the vegetables and top with half of the fontina, mozzarella, and half the remaining bread crumbs.
9. Make a second layer with remaining tomatoes, onions, herbs, mayo, cheese and remaining breadcrumbs.
10. Drizzle olive oil over the top and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
11. Bake the pie for 50 minutes to 1 hour.  Be sure to cover the edges with foil.  Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.

Some notes:

I thought I had bread crumbs, but I did not.  What I did have was a bag of croutons and a food processor.  Voila, bread crumbs!  I think they taste better than the bread crumbs in an oatmeal can anyway.  Cheesy!

This pie is delicious. We loved it. Even though the recipe didn't specify them, Roma tomatoes were perfect for it, firm and juicy, and I picked up an 8oz wedge of fontina cheese for about $4.  This is the kind of food that makes me feel like a fancy cook.

According to research, images of meat are soothing to men so this picture of the steak Nathan and I shared with our tomato pie is for all the boys. Let it calm you.