I came across this really simple recipe for a savory tomato pie, published in Sarah Leah Chase’s newspaper column in the Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror. Chase and others trace the recipe back to Ruth Reichl, but I haven’t found anything with Beard’s imprimatur. However, a lot of Beard’s writing was collections of other people’s recipes, so we may never know who first made this really simple and delicious pie, which amounts to a biscuit dough crust and about 4 other ingredients. All I can tell you is that it was a hit at a group picnic/party I took it to recently, and so I’ll pass it on to you.
Basically, you make a batch of buttermilk biscuit dough and press it into a pie pan as the crust, fill it with a layer or two of sliced tomatoes, and top with a mixture of mayonnaise and cheddar cheese and bake it.
This recipe works fine with ordinary hothouse tomatoes, but it will probably excel with fresh garden tomatoes as well. We’ll soon find out!
First make the biscuit dough
- 2 cups flour
- 1 Tb baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 6 Tb cold unsalted butter (3/4 stick, or 3 oz.)
- 1 cup plus 2 Tb buttermilk
- Chopped parsley
Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Then cut up the butter into little cubes by slicing the stick of butter lengthwise along two long axes and then cutting it into slices along the short axis, which will each fall into four pieces. Then blend the butter into the flour with a pastry blender and toss in a small handful of chopped parsley, and mix in the buttermilk. No need to roll the dough out: just press the whole ball into a 9-inch pie pan and spread it to fill the pan and up the sides.
Then make the tomato pie
- 4-6 ripe tomatoes, in thick slices
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 ½ cups mayonnaise
- Fresh basil leaves, chopped
- Salt and pepper
- Preheat the oven to 375˚ F.
- Spread the tomato slices on top of the biscuit dough, filling the pan, and sprinkle with salt and pepper, and sprinkle the chopped basil on top.
- Mix the mayonnaise and cheddar cheese and spread over the top of the tomatoes.
- Spread some more chopped basil leaves on top.
- Bake about 35 minutes.
Let it rest for 10-15 minutes and serve warm, or chill it and serve it cold. Cold, it is a great addition to a picnic or party.