Check It Out, I Baked Something – Tomato and Corn Pie

I just may get the hang of this baking thing yet, cause this one turned out pretty damn good. Baking has never really been my strong suit, as I tend to cook in a more fly-by-night, who-needs-a-recipe style that permits for a little more riffing than is usually appropriate for baking.

But I’m learning.

I have Saint Tigerlily and Gourmet.com to thank for this one – so, thank you for bringing this awesome Summer dish into my life.

Yet another way to deal with an abundance of tomatoes, this pie is seriously delicious. It also gives a great opportunity to use some of the wonderful Silver Queen corn being harvested now in our area, and on top of that you even get a chance to flex your new mayonnaise knowledge.

This is a pretty multi-purpose pie. You can serve it for brunch, lunch, dinner, whatever. It can serve as a vegetarian meal in and of itself, or as a side or appetizer. Makes a great snack, can be served warm or cold, and it re-heats pretty well too.

The crust is one of the best parts about this dish, it’s not a typical pie crust but rather a biscuit crust – so, you definitely want to make the crust from scratch along with the recipe rather than using any store bought stuff. It’s pretty easy though, so let’s get to it.

Prep time: 30 minutes
Bake time: 35 minutes
Cooling time: 5-10 minutes

Ingredients…

- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 3/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 stick unsalted butter, cold
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1 3/4 lb tomatoes (large, preferably)
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise (1 egg yolk, 3/4 cup olive oil, 1 tsp dijon mustard, 1 tsp lemon juice)
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 3 ears worth of corn, cut from the cob
- 2 tbsp fresh chopped basil
- 1 tbsp fresh chopped chives
- 1/4 tsp black pepper, fresh
- 1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese

You will need a 9-inch pie dish, a stock pot, a large mixing bowl, and some wax or parchment paper.

First thing to do is assemble the dough.

Mix together the flour, baking soda, and 3/4 tsp salt in a large bowl. Add the butter, chopped into small 1-inch square cubes for better dispersion.

Having washed your hands thoroughly before we even started, go ahead and plunge them right into the dough mix and work your fingers through it until it resembles coarse meal.

Slowly add the milk while continuing to work the dough. You can do this in a pastry blender too, if you have one, but hands-on is more fun.

Split the dough in half and roll it up into two large balls. Then, roll one ball out in between two pieces of wax or parchment paper, until it is about an 11-12 inch circle.

I have seen tons of recipes suggesting to use plastic wrap for this step, including this one from Gourmet. I don’t get this. Plastic wrap is a serious struggle, and usually turns your dough into an awful mess and you lose a lot of it to the plastic itself. Saint Tigerlily and I both recommend wax paper instead.

Use the first 12-inch circle in the bottom of the pie dish.

Repeat the same process with the second ball of dough, and set aside.

Next, set the oven to pre-heat at 400 degrees F, and start boiling 4 cups of water in the stock pot. We’re going to peel the tomatoes using the same method we learned in the recent post about stuffing tomatoes with shrimp. Follow that process, peel the tomatoes, then slice length-wise at your desired thickness.

In a small bowl, whisk together 1 egg yolk, 3/4 cup olive oil, and 1 tsp lemon juice to make mayonnaise from scratch. This should only take about 5 minutes or so, but if you absolutely HAVE to, you can sub in store bought stuff. Once the mayonnaise is finished, whisk in another 2 tbsp of lemon juice.

Shuck corn and cut down the sides of the cob. The best method I have found for this is to break the ears in half, so that the corn doesn’t fall off while you’re cutting it and go all over the counter and floor. Then, put the corn in a bowl after it’s cut from the cob, and set a small bowl next to it filled with water. Dip your hand in the water, then run it through the corn lightly to break up the corn chunks and to catch the strands of corn… hair… string… I don’t know what you call that stuff. Anyway, it will stick to your hand, then you can put your hand in the water and repeat until you have removed it all from the corn.

Chop up your fresh basil and chives and you’re ready to start assembling the pie.

Start with a layer of tomatoes, overlapping, and sprinkle with half the corn, half the basil and chives, some salt and some pepper.

It’s so festive, no?

Repeat for a second layer and add half of the cheese on top.

Pour a layer of all the mayonnaise down, top with the rest of the cheese, and cover with the second dough circle (previously set aside). Make a couple vents in the top of the crust, brush the crust all over with melted butter, and it’s ready to go in the oven.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 30-35 minutes, or until crust is a golden brown. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Your pie is now ready to be devoured.

You can vegan-ize this dish easily by leaving the cheese out and using a mayonnaise substitute, and a butter substitute in the crust.

What’s your favorite type of pie? Bonus points for fruits or veggies.

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