Aunt Freedom’s Tomato Pie
In the 1970s Southern Living Magazine published their very first Tomato Pie recipe. Although Tomato Pie has been a popular way to eat all of those ripe summer tomatoes here in South Carolina, I surprisingly had never eaten or heard of Tomato Pie until I was a teenager.
I’ll tell you a little secret.
I don’t really like tomatoes. I know, I know, it’s blasphemous, but there was just something about the texture that I hated until I discovered Tomato Pie.
One summer during a camping trip to Santee, South Carolina, we stopped at Lonestar Mercantile & BBQ for lunch and my love affair with Tomato Pie began.
Since that day I have eaten Tomato Pie from Hilton Head to Greenville, SC in restaurants, grocery stores, and family kitchens, but I have never eaten a Tomato Pie as delicious as that of my sister in law, Freedom.
She has truly perfected her recipe and I hope your family loves it as much as mine.
Photo by Taste of Home
Prep Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Ingredients:
4 tomatoes
1 cup Dukes mayonnaise
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded provolone cheese
½ cup fresh chopped basil
½ cup chopped green onions
1 Pillsbury frozen pie shell
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
Instructions:
Bake the Pillsbury frozen pie shell according to package directions and set aside.
Next, heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Slice tomatoes ¼ to ½ inch thick and lay on a paper towel.
Place tomatoes in the refrigerator for 1 hour to drain onto paper towels. (This will prevent your pie from being soggy!)
While tomatoes drain, mix mayonnaise, both cheeses, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl.
Place a layer of tomato slices, basil and green onion in the bottom of your pre baked Pilsbury pie crust followed by a layer of the mayonnaise cheese spread.
Continue layering until pie crust is full.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees .
Garnish with fresh basil leaves and serve warm.
