JRPfeff: nothing beats homemade pie crust!

Most recipes online suggested the pre-made pie crust. I too am fortunate enough to have a better half that takes pride in her crust.

Well, did my first tomato pie tonight. I made a few additions like mushrooms,green peppers, and onions. Sauteed the onions,peppers until soft. I used sour cream instead of mayo along with blue cheese dressing. Also added Italian seasoning,black pepper, garlic and onion powder. It tasted great BUT unfortunately I failed to read the part of the recipe that called for prebaking the pie crust. You guessed it!!! It was a watery mess. Learned a few things. One, prebake crust. Two, use less veggies. Three,croutons on top are a nice addition.Four, make sure you add ALL the ingredients before poring the topping on Wife liked the nice mix of flavors. I'll try it again and if it turns out well I'll post the actual ingredients. Oh, I used just sour cream and sharp cheddar cheese. Nice flavor. Not really a mayo or miracle whip fan.

I have a somewhat different version but you hvae to like intense tomato flavor. I slice the tomatoes, toss with salt, pepper and olive oil and oven roast for a while (1.5 hours). Then cheddar cheese on the bottom of the pie crust, a layer of tomatoes, a layer of onions, basil and garlic that has been sauteed in olive oil, some goat cheese then the rest of the tomatoes and a little basil on top. In the oven until heated through and cheese is melted. Less cheezy and a bit more tomato than the original recipe here (which sounds great - I will try it when I have garden tomatoes again).

Made tomato pie last night. I ensured myself that I put all the ingredients in this time and prebaked the pie(very important). I added a can of mushrooms,sauteed onions and green pepper. Covered with a mixture of sour cream,blue cheese dressing, and sharp cheddar cheese. I added to the veggies italian seasoning, onion and garlic powder, and black pepper. After putting on the sour cream mix I topped with croutons. It was really very good.. The only bad part was that the tomatoes didn't cook enough. Either I have to let them ripen more or cook longer. Will experiment

Got a question.I'm getting ready to do this pie again. Last time I made this pie I used hot house tomatoes. The tomatoes were hard after cooking. What did I do wrong? Should I have nuked the tomatoes first to soften them up or cooked the whole pie longer???

Paul, I have only made this pie when tomatoes are in season so the hardness has never been an issue.

The flavorless tomatoes we get in the store for the rest of the year are harder then the in season ones from the farmers market. I believe that has to do with them picking them early.

You could try nuking one after it is cut up to see if that would make the difference for you. If it works for you post back here.

Or you could also try the steps listed on this site to further ripen your tomatoes. This was written for green tomatoes but I think it would work with the red ones you are using. Again please post back if it works for you.

How to ripen tomatoes

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mike Resler,

quote:

Originally posted by paul h:
Last time I made this pie I used hot house tomatoes. The tomatoes were hard after cooking. What did I do wrong? Should I have nuked the tomatoes first to soften them up or cooked the whole pie longer???

Mom and Dad used to wrap unripe toms in newspaper and leave them on the counter to ripen them up. Hot house toms are nasty IMO, I'd wait for summer.

Bryan, I know what you're saying. But "I want an Oompah Loompah now".

Mike, I nuked the tomatoes and they came out perfect. Of course , not like tomatoes grown in season but ok for this pie.I added a layer of mushrooms,onions and green peppers. Topped with sour cream and ranch dressing. Finished off with croutons on the top. Baked and viola!! My wife is enjoying my experiments with this

Hey guys, it's almost getting to that time of the year when we get fresh tomatoes. Looking forward to trying a pie with garden tomatoes instead of the "synthetic" stuff.

Tastey garden tomatoes are comming soon!