Buttermilk Crust Tomato Pie

Sweet, sweet, summertime

with tomatoes ripening on the vine,

red and delicious, or green if you choose

when you put them in a pie, you have nothing to lose.

Don’t sound the alarms. I am not using you as my guinea pig for a future food poetry endeavor. I promise we’re really going to talk about the Buttermilk Crust Tomato Pie, but somehow, I got a little carried away playing a little game of rhyme time.

And then it got me thinking….while I don’t necessarily think I should pitch a new cookbook with rhymes corresponding with the recipes, I do think I myself would enjoy reading a cookbook of rhyming recipes or funny songs.

Biscuits, biscuits, biscuits with jelly,

add butter or jam, just get in my belly.

So light, so fluffy, so incredibly good,

if allowed seconds, you definitely should!

Ok, I’ll stop. But just know if you give me a topic, any topic at all, I can make you a rhyme or sing you a song. Ask my husband. I dance around the house singing songs to the dogs all. day. long.

It’s a really good thing he finds my songs cute, because otherwise, I’d probably struggle finding someone to put up with them. And bless my sweet little dog’s hearts….they put up with me, too.

This pie came from my grandmother’s recipe box and is no less than 50+ years old. I needed a recipe that would work for a light lunch, brunch type scenario and she recommended her favorite “tomata pie”.

When I heard her say it I thought it sounded terrible. Tomatoes??? But she insisted that it’s light and refreshing and perfect for brunch on the back porch.

So I gave it a whirl.

I braced myself for some naysers and was fully prepared to blame my grandmother and her misadvise, when low and behold everyone raved about the darn pie.

High five granny!

Buttermilk Crust Tomato Pie

Recipe Type: Entree

Author: Aimee

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 35 mins

Total time: 45 mins

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

Buttermilk Crust:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed
6-8 tablespoons whole buttermilk, chilled
Filling:
3-4 green tomatoes, peeled and sliced
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon fresh basil
½ teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoons corn starch
¼ cup Vidalia onion, diced
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese

Instructions

For the crust: Combine the flour, salt and sugar in a medium sized bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until it resembles coarse crumbs. Gradually add the buttermilk, until a dough ball comes together. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide in half; shape into 2 disks. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to cover a 9 inch pie plate. Bake the crust at 400 degrees for 5-7 minutes, or until lightly golden.
Reduce the oven heat to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, add the seasonings to the onions. Layer the tomatoes with the onion mixture on top. Combine mayonnaise and cheese and spread evenly over the tomatoes extending to the edge of the crust. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

A couple of notes here, though.

You’ll see that I have red tomatoes photographed, but I’m using green tomatoes in the recipe. I did this on purpose. Because green tomatoes are a bit more firm, I used them to get the pie from turning into a soggy mess. Doing so will give your pie a bit more of a tart taste, however. I used the small red tomatoes for the photograph, because, well, red is prettier than green and I liked their petite size.

Purely aesthetics.

You can use either, just be sure to salt and drain your red tomatoes if you end up using those. Red or green, you’ll want to remove the seeds as well.

Ever had Tomato Pie before?

Buttermilk Crust Tomato Pie

One Comment

aimeebroussard