Tomato Pie

The must make pie of the summer: Southern Tomato Pie! This tomato pie is packed with juicy tomatoes, fresh sweet corn, and a savory, cheesy mixture all baked up in a buttery, biscuit crust.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Prep Time 40

Cook Time 30

Total Time 1 10

Servings slices

Calories 543kcal

Author Karly Campbell

Ingredients

For the crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoon cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoon butter melted

For the filling:

1 3/4 pounds beefsteak tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon salt to taste
2/3 cup mayonnaise
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 cup chopped basil
2 tablespoons chopped chives
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon black pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels from 2-3 ears

Instructions

To make the crust:

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter using a pastr cutter until you have coarse crumbs.
Stir in the buttermilk until you have a shaggy dough. Gather into a ball.
Divide the dough in half and roll out one half on a well floured surface into a 12 inch round. Transfer to a pie plate and pat dough into place. Place the pie plate and second half of dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, in the refrigerator to chill.

To make the filling:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cut a shallow "x" into the bottom of each tomato, just through the skin, and place in the boiling water for 10 seconds. Remove the tomatoes to an ice water bath. When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel the skins with your hands. They should slip right off.
Line a baking sheet with paper towels or a tea towel. Slice the tomatoes in 1/4 inch slices, remove the seeds with your fingers, and arrange them in a single layer on the towel. Sprinkle with sea salt and allow to set for 20 minutes to release excess moisture.
Blot with a paper towel to dry any excess moisture.
Mix together the mayonnaise, cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese, garlic and onion powders, basil, chives, lemon juice, and black pepper. Stir until well combined. Taste for seasoning and add more as needed.

To assemble and bake:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Remove the pie crusts from the refrigerator. Arrange a layer of half the tomato slices over the bottom of the pie crust. Sprinkle with the corn. Drop small spoonfuls of half of the mayo/cheese mixture over the top of the corn as evenly as possibly to cover. Repeat the layers with the remaining ingredients.
Roll out the other ball of pie dough and top the pie. Pinch the seams closed and trim off any excess. Crimp the edges. Use a sharp knife to cut four slits in the top crust. Brush with the melted butter.
Bake until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbling, about 35 minutes.
Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Notes

Crust: This is more of a biscuit-y crust than a traditional flaky pie crust. It's delicious and a bit more sturdy than your average pie crust so it will hold up better to the moisture in the filling.

The crust can be easily made in the food processor. Add everything but the buttermilk and melted butter, pulse until you have coarse crumbs, and then stream in the buttermilk, being careful not to overwork the dough. Once you have a shaggy dough, remove from the food processor and proceed by hand.

We brush the top with melted butter, but an egg wash could be used for a shinier crust.

Tomatoes: This is best made with garden fresh, in season tomatoes. If you're making this out of season, we recommend looking for heirloom tomatoes. They're more expensive but they tend to be more flavorful and taste more like home grown tomatoes. Our local Kroger store sells heirloom tomatoes all year.

Removing the seeds is as easy as just sticking your fingers in the slices of tomatoes and pushing the seeds out. They do have a lot of flavor, so we aren't super careful to remove them all, but if you leave too many your filling will be quite wet.

Filling: We haven't tried this yet, but I'm really keen to test this with our homemade pimento cheese in place of the cheesy filling listed here. I think it will be amazing and it's on my list as soon as we have enough tomatoes from our garden.

Corn: You could use frozen corn (would not recommend canned), but I highly recommend cutting fresh corn from the cob for the best flavor and texture. This pie screams summer and that sweet crispy corn really adds to it. Worth the little bit of effort it requires.

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