Saturday, September 10, 2016

Summer Tomato Pie

I love this pie so much - its prep is straightforward, its ingredients are simple, and the flavor is wow! SUMMER.  Furthermore, I adapted the pie recipe that was recommended to me for my slow cooker because it's summer and the heat index was 104 degrees F today.  I use my slow cooker a lot in the summer - I run the extension cord out through the kitchen window and set the cooker on the table outside.

With this pie, I served our very own garden green beans (very proud of that!) with brown butter, and sweet basil ice cream with pine nut pralines for dessert.  Yes, truly.  That supper was the essence of summer for me.




Summer Tomato Pie

Line a 6-quart oval slow cooker with a crust for a 9" pie - bring it up the sides about 2".  I don't crimp it and the edges are definitely rustic. Prick bottom of crust with a fork.

Turn cooker on High for 30 minutes with lid propped open or cocked.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling.

Thinly slice 3 medium-to-large tomatoes. Sprinkle evenly with 2 tsp. salt and lay in a colander or other porous container in the sink.  You must draw some of the water out of the tomatoes or your pie will be too soupy.  Allow the tomatoes to drain for at least 10 minutes.  Blot moisture gently with a paper towel or old kitchen towel.

After the crust has baked for 30 minutes, carefully (the crock will be hot) layer the filling ingredients below in about 3 layers, ending with cheese.

sliced, salted, drained tomatoes
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
1 tsp. dried basil
1/2 cup grated nutty cheddar like Dubliner, or freshly grated Parmesan
3/4 cup grated mozzarella

Then, dollop 1/4 cup mayonnaise in tiny dollops around the top and gingerly spread it over the top layer of cheese.  Aim to get it distributed as evenly as possible, but don't stress.  It's summer!



Put the lid on the cooker (not cocked this time) and keep it on High for 1 1/2 hours.  The crust should be crisp where it shows at the sides, the cheese melted, and some tomato juice bubbling.  Remove the slow cooker lid and keep it on High for 15 minutes to evaporate some juice.  Remove crock from cooking unit and allow pie to set for as much time as you have before you want to eat. The longer it sits, the more it firms up (we ate ours hot about 10 minutes after it was done due to hungry kids, so the second helpings were much easier to serve). Serve warm or room temperature.



8 comments:

Megan said...

I adapted and made that same pie last week after seeing it pop up on Pinterest. Possibly your Pinterest! My top had mayo and ricotta, just because I had some ricotta that needed using up. Making it in the slow cooker was very canny of you! (Also: my grandmother has the same Dansk blue and white plates, I get a kick out of seeing them in your photos too).

Becky said...

Brilliant! It's been too hot to do anything with tomatoes but have BLT's, but this I could do.

Lisa said...

This sounds really interesting, Margo - did you use your press-in pie crust, or a regular one? Do you think it matters?

Margo said...

Lisa, I used a regular pie crust. Not sure the tart crust (press-in) would work the same. I could experiment :)

jenny_o said...

Oh, my, that looks SO delicious ... I miss eating tomatoes so much! And pastry makes anything better :) The empty plate says it all.

AmyK said...

This looks delicious. And putting the crock pot outside is brilliant.

AyrieJoyce said...

Oh wow! I make a recipe very similar to this one and love it, but I never would have thought about the crockpot. Fantastic.

Sarah Barry said...

You are so dang smart to make it in the slow cooker! It never crossed my mind.

That was my biggest complaint about the pie - using the oven in the summer.

I'm totally doing the slow cooker next year. Brilliant!