Tomato Pie and Seared Cabbage

Saturday was another good day for food (this seems to be a pattern). I took the bus to the farmer's market, which means that instead of scurrying away after picking up my farm share, I had time to loiter. I found a stand that has "seconds" tomatoes--I got 5 big, ripe, juicy tomatoes for $2 and they were only slightly bruised. In fact, had I grown them, I would've been quite proud that something so pretty had come out of my garden. Also found some okra. With those finds, plus this week's farm share, plus the stuff left over from last week, I have committed us to eating a lot of veggies this week.

We decided to start with a tomato pie. I've been talking about making one since I saw this recipe in the Post last week. I've only had tomato pie once before, when I ordered it at PJ's Pancake House and thought I was getting a slice of tomato pie (in fact, I got a whole pie. Oops.) The below recipe was adapted from the recipe from the Post. My pie crust was a little shallow so I used only two layers of tomatoes, but you could do more.

Tomato Pie

Preheat the oven to 350
Ingredients:
Pie crust (I used a "Best Yet" frozen pie crust that I think brought the whole dish down... next time I would make my own or do without and serve the crustless pie with bread)
~1.5 cups of cheese, grated (I used cheddar, mozzarella, and parmesan)
1/4c diced sweet onion
~2.5 tomatoes, seeds and pulp removed, sliced 1/2" thick
~16 chives, chopped
Oregano, salt, pepper

To assemble:
Cover the bottom of the pie crust with 1/2c cheese
Cover with a layer of tomato slices
Sprinkle with ~1/2 of the onions, ~1/2 of the chives, oregano, salt, and pepper to taste
Repeat the above three steps
Finish with a final layer of cheese.


Ready for the oven

Bake in the 350 degr. oven for about 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the crust is toasty brown. I put mine under the broiler for two minutes to brown the cheese.


Delicious!

I could see using fresh basil instead of oregano, as well.


I accompanied it with seared red cabbage. Here it is in the pan.

I like how this preparation softened the stems and gave them a mild flavor, sort of like turnips. Be careful when cutting the cabbage--you need to leave a little bit of stem with each piece to facilitate flipping. I messed up with about 1/3 of the cabbage, which is now in the fridge, waiting to become slaw.



Bon appetit!