How To Make Easy Tomato Pie — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

When I was growing up, I was convinced I hated mayo (and sour cream, and cream cheese, and cottage cheese, for that matter). I scrunched my nose up at my mom when she mixed it into her tuna salad, and scooched my seat away from my dad if he ordered the creamy coleslaw side at a restaurant. My friends that electively opted to add mayo to their Subway sandwiches? I was utterly repulsed.

So you can imagine my surprise when I discovered that the secret to my mom's famous tomato pie — a staple in our household every summer — was a generous dollop of good old-fashioned mayonnaise. It was quite a dilemma: admit that okay, maybe I'd never really given the condiment a chance and had unfairly ruled it out of my diet, or stick to my story and give up the pie? The pie won (as it often does), and acted as my gateway to mayo, which now has a permanent place in my fridge.

With some assistance from two types of cheeses, lots of salt and pepper, and a spoonful of Dijon, mayo transforms into a decadent tomato pie topper that serves as the salty, savory counterpart to stewy, sweet summer tomatoes. Consider that this is all set inside a buttery, flaky pie crust, and I don't think I have to tell you this is a must-make before summer ends.

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