This tomato pie recipe comes to us from the chefs at Helen in Birmingham, AL. Enjoy!
Helen Tomato Pie
Helen’s tomato pie keeps things wonderfully simple with just three ingredients: tomatoes, pimento cheese, and a flaky pie shell. Best of all, nearly everything can be prepped in advance.
Equipment
- 10 4x2 cake rings
- parchment paper
- Sheet pan or cookie pan
- Paper towels/kitchen towels
Ingredients
- 12 baseball-sized ripe tomatoes Tomatoes need to be sliced and seasoned the day before - or at least 6 hours before building the tomato pies.
- Pimento cheese Recipe and additional ingredients below.
- Brisée dough Recipe and additional ingredients below.
- Blind baking beans
Pimento Cheese (Aioli)
- 1 cup oil peanut or canola
- 1 egg yolk
Pimento Cheese (other ingredients)
- 1 lb good-quality white mild cheddar white cheese such as Thomasville Tomme, grated
- 2 roasted, peeled, seeded and finely diced red peppers
- 2 tbsp sriracha
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- Pinch of salt
Brisée Dough
- 7.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 cups unsalted butter 6 sticks
- 3 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup ice water
Instructions
Pimento Cheese
- First, make the Aioli by whisking 1 cup of peanut or canola oil into 1 egg yolk. The aioli should be thick but not so thick that you can’t incorporate all the oil. A little water will help loosen the emulsion between the egg and oil to allow all the oil to be added. Refrigerate the finished aioli while you prepare the remaining ingredients. (Note: We make a neutral aioli with no garlic or lemon juice.)
- Char the peppers on the grill or under the broiler, then place in a bowl and cover to steam, which will help release the skin. Once the peppers have cooled enough to handle, remove the skin, seeds, and stem, and dice them small. Place in a medium-sized bowl with the cayenne and sriracha.
- Using a box grater, shred the cheese on the large grating side, grate the cheese straight into the mixing bowl with the peppers, cayenne, and hot sauce.
- Fold in half the aioli until well incorporated, followed by the remainder. Chill in the refrigerator for a few hours before using for tomato pies. Each pie will get around 2 oz. of pimento cheese.
Brisée Dough
- Preheat your oven to 375 °F. Mix dry ingredients (all-purpose flour and salt). Divide into equal parts.
- Mix half of the dry ingredients and the butter on speed one of a standing mixer, using the paddle attachment. Mix until the butter is flaky and pea-sized, then stop at this point.
- Add the remainder of the all-purpose flour to the mixer and begin to mix on low speed. At this time, slowly incorporate the water at a slow pace, in the center of the flour mass. You want your water to incorporate into the flour and not get underneath the dough mass that forms on the paddle. Stop the mixer just as soon as the dough comes together.
- Lastly, knead your dough on a floured surface to get the butter to streak through, making your dough more cohesive. However, avoid over-kneading (longer than 20 seconds) as it can make your crust elastic and shrink while it cooks.
- Portion the dough into 4.5-oz. round discs (this will be important when rolling out). Then individually wrap each and allow the dough to rest for at least 2 hours.
- Once the discs have rested, it’s time to roll them out for blind baking. On a floured working surface, roll the discs out until they are about 1/8-inch thick. You will want to try and keep the dough as round as possible. Once all your discs are rolled out, work with one at a time to fill the cake rings. The bottom should be flat, and the sides creased and flattened to form a tall cylindrical shape. There should be enough dough that it overlaps the top of the ring, but not by much. You want to leave this until after baking — it’s easily removed with a small, serrated knife.
- Once all the cake rings have been filled, line them with a small piece of parchment paper and fill them with blind baking beans. Bake the shells in the oven for 15-20 minutes, rotating after 10 minutes. The bottoms should be slightly browned when ready. Remove parchment and baking beans, allowing the Brisée to cool before using.
- In preparation for slicing the tomatoes, line a half-sheet pan or cookie pan with paper towels or a kitchen towel. This will soak up all the water from the tomatoes once they are seasoned. Slice your tomatoes about 1/4-inch thick, then layer on the towel and season with salt and pepper. Repeat the layering process until all the tomatoes have been sliced and seasoned. (Note: Each layer of tomatoes should have a towel between them.)
Building the Tomato Pie
- Now that you have all your components ready to go, start by preheating your oven to 350 °F.
- Start by layering the tomatoes into each of your pie shells. You may find that cutting the tomatoes in half helps with this process. Continue layering the tomatoes all the way to the top of the shell.
- Top with two ounces of pimento cheese, spreading it evenly over the top so you can’t see any tomato.
- Once all the shells are filled, bake the pies uncovered for 10 minutes. Then, rotate and bake for an additional 10 minutes until the top is bubbling and slightly browning.
- Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
Calories: 1252kcalCarbohydrates: 80gProtein: 23gFat: 95gSaturated Fat: 46gPolyunsaturated Fat: 10gMonounsaturated Fat: 32gTrans Fat: 2gCholesterol: 211mgSodium: 1140mgPotassium: 558mgFiber: 5gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 4182IUVitamin C: 53mgCalcium: 371mgIron: 5mg
Tried this recipe?Rate it above to let us know how it was!
**********
For more food and recipe inspiration, visit our archives!
About the Author
StyleBlueprint Editors