"The instinct of nearly all societies is to lock up anybody who is truly free. First, society begins by trying to beat you up. If this fails, they try to poison you. If this fails too, they finish by loading honours on your head" ... Jean Cocteau

Tomato Pie

I made this the other night and it is one of those recipes that you carry around in your head and then once or twice a year you have a craving for it. The only part I actually use a recipe book for is the pastry. I am not giving the pastry recipe because it depends on the size of your pie plate, but for a 9” one, I believe it is 1½ cups of flour, ½ cup shortening, salt, which I never put and 4-6 tbsp of cold water and this varies but start with 4 and add until you have a ball of dough. I use the ‘Fanny Farmer’ for any sort of traditional recipes, like pastry dough.
Pre-cook the crust, 350°F, for 10-15 minutes until lightly brown. It may puff-up, so just pat down, with your oven mitt. Pricking the crust with a fork before you bake it also helps.

The ingredients are basic;

  • 3 tomatoes, or thereabouts depending on the size & type
  • Fresh basil leaves or pesto. I sometimes use some of my frozen pesto that I prepare by grinding the basil & olive oil only then freezing. If making pesto I add the other ingredients fresh to the thawed pesto.
  • Gruyere cheese, maybe a ½” – ¾” thick, or another good Swiss cheese. Some Italian cheeses probably work great, maybe an Asiago, but I have always used Swiss cheeses.
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • Dijon mustard, 1-2 tsp

Technique:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 450°F.
  2. Spread Dijon on bottom of crust.
  3. Add 1/3 tomatoes to cover bottom.
  4. Put some basil or pesto on the tomatoes, use your judgement. Sprinkle some salt & pepper to taste.
  5. Grate some cheese to cover.
  6. Put another row of tomatoes and continue like first layer.
  7. Spread the last row of tomatoes and top with cheese.
  8. Bake in oven at 450°F for 5 minutes. Then turn down the oven to 425°F and bake for another 20-25 minutes until cheese is slightly brown, and maybe the edge of the crust too.
  9. Let cool, maybe 15-20 minutes before slicing and serving.
  10. A nice salad of lettuce & marinated artichokes, maybe some black olives and just an olive oil & red wine vinegar vinaigrette goes great with the pie.

I suppose this is a variation on a lasagne, make any adjustments to suit your taste. Also if I have any dough left over, I usually make a dessert from my mother-in-law, her delicious ‘Tarte au Sucre’ or sugar pie. You can’t get a much more traditional Québécois dessert than this.

Enjoy!!!

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