By now, anyone with access to fresh tomatoes might have an overflowing bounty of them. Here in Tennessee, we've had so much rain that the tomato crop certainly has benefited greatly from the weather. Your first instinct might be to use them for this recipe, but in truth, unless you've grown romas, you might wind up with a soggy pie if you use those gorgeous, fat & juicy tomatoes from your garden. That's what happened to me when I made this the first time. LOL You'll have to squeeze those tomatoes free of their juice before you use them for the pie, or you can just buy some Romas and begin. Here's what I did:
5 BIG roma tomatoes - they were the size of my closed fist!
Slice them in 1/4" slices and arrange them in a colander so that when you sprinkle them with salt, they will all get some.
Let them sit for at least 30 minutes or longer, to help them release their juices. While that's working, you're going to put your pie crust in the pan (I used a cast iron skillet) and pre-bake it at 350 for 30 minutes. This is vital!
Now it's time to assemble the rest.
1/2 cup (or more) of your favorite mayo
1/2 cup (or more) shredded parmesan cheese
3 (or more) cloves of minced garlic
1 cup (or more) shredded mozzarella
a good handful of fresh basil leaves that you've shredded
Mix all of this together and set aside.
Is the pie shell done yet?
Once it is, you're going to line the bottom with 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese. This will help protect the crust from getting soggy. It works!
Now take some paper towel and blot your tomatoes dry - as dry as you can anyway.
Next, arrange the sliced tomatoes in the pie crust in whatever way you choose. I tried not to stack but to keep them offset from each other. You'll want to do this so that the topping that you mixed earlier can ooze down and get to all the tomatoes! There's no science to this. Now just spread the mayo & cheese mixture over the tomatoes in an attempt to coat everything. Top it off with another handful of parmesan on top and place it in the oven for 30 minutes or until the top is that beautiful toasted cheesy color.
Voila!
A word of warning! As good as it looks, you will be much better off if you let it sit for at least 10 minutes so that the juices & cheese set some. Otherwise, you will not get slices, but rather you'll have more of a tomato & cheese soup :) Ask me how I know. ;)
I served this with grilled chicken, but I have it in mind to alter this recipe and put some grilled chicken in there before I bake it! I'll let you know how that turns out!
Enjoy! Please come back and let me know if you make this delicious 'mater pie!
