The Altitude Adjustment Section
Yesterday we harvested all our huge green heirloom tomatoes because the temperature plummeted and I got scared they would freeze. So now my whole kitchen is full of tomatoes, I am so proud! They ripen pretty fast indoors, hopefully soon I will have more than I know what to do with. This is why this savory pie recipe appeals to me at the moment. It started out as a recipe from Bon Appetit magazine, but I worked on it a bit. It had cheddar cheese in it which is not one of my favorites so I changed it to goat cheese — which I adore — and then threw in some tarragon from the garden and now I love it. Feel free to customize it to your taste.
Ingredients for crust
2 cups AP flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 cup buttermilk
Ingredients for filling
2 lbs of the most delicious tomatoes you can find, cut into 1/4 inch slices
2 cups of crumbled goat cheese
1/4 cup shredded Asiago cheese
1 chopped scallion
1/2 cup mayo or horseradish aioli
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons cornmeal
Procedure to make crust
Whisk together flour, powder, soda and salt or throw into the food processor and pulse. Throw in the butter and pulse til a coarse meal is formed and you still see some lumps of butter. Now dump into a bowl and add the buttermilk and knead gently together til dough forms. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
We are going to make this in a 9 inch Pyrex pie pan.
Procedure to make filling
Line a baking sheet with two layers of paper towels and then place tomato slices on them and cover with 2 more layers. This is to absorb the extra juice from the tomato slices. Let stand for 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 425 — yes I said 425! Roll out your dough between 2 large sheets of plastic wrap to an 11 inch round and remove top plastic and invert in waiting pie pan. Now carefully peel off other piece of plastic. Sprinkle corn meal in the bottom of crust (this is to absorb extra tomato liquid). Combine goat cheese and Asiago cheese and sprinkle 1/2 of the cheese mixture over the cornmeal. Then arrange 1/3 of the tomato slices overlapping in the crust. Now combine the mayo, scallion, tarragon, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Spread 1/2 this mixture over the tomatoes. Repeat with more cheese, more tomato and then more mayo mixture til everything is all used up. Now fold pie crust over the edges of the tomato. Bake until crust is golden brown about 35-40 minutes. You might have to tent top if it gets too brown. Let cool at least 1 hour before slicing.
