ISO: ISO: Richard in Cincy, if you see this, can you advise within the next 2 hours? It's 2:00 PM now.

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marilynfl

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I'm making the Saveur tomato pie for 5:00 PM potluck at my house. COVID-wary, but the neighbors need to come to consensus on how to repair our rain-damaged private dirt road.

This is regarding the fresh tomato portion. Instructions say to strain it for an hour, but I ALWAYS put my fresh tomato pieces in the salad spinner for my tomato pie (Laurie Colwin's). Learned that lesson the hard way after the first attempt made the bottom crust soggy. Pies have been perfect ever since using that extra little step.

So I'm a bit concerned whether just straining for an hour is sufficient? This recipe crust turned out thin because I used a 9.5x7.5 tart pan rather than a pie pan, but it's golden brown and waiting to be gussied up.

If I don't hear from you I'm going to give them a little spin just to be on the safe side. I'm just not sure if the pie needs the residual tomato juices.

Thanks.

 
This is definitely a good pie. Sadly, my crust was stretched a bit too thin so the

ratio of crust to tomatoes to cheesy topping wasn't perfect. I think I need to increase the crust ingredients to 1.5.

One thing I did and would do again...well, two things I did and would do again:
1: Use 1 scoop (big TBL) of leaf lard as part of the fat
2. I had sauteed the onions in the crock pot, my method of reducing the time spent at the stove stirring them to caramelize (instead of 35-45 minutes, caramelized onions take 10-15 minutes). But there was more butter than needed, so I threw that in the freezer to reharden and used it in the crust. Oh boy...it smelled like perogie heaven. The scent, however, was more obvious unbaked than baked.

I did take the fresh tomatoes for a little spin because they were still exuding water after 1.5 hours of sitting in the colander.

The topping is the same as Laurie Colwin's and she adds lemon juice. Since Richard said the lemon thyme was so good, I used regular thyme and zested a whole lemon. That was a tad too much...half a lemon would have been perfect.

I used Tillamook cheddar, parmesan and a bit of pecorino romano. Definitely more than was called for because, come on! it's melty cheese.

I think next time I would roast 2/3 of the tomatoes and leave 1/3 fresh. They do reduce A LOT so be wary.

I made all the components last night and put the pie together around 3:00 since the dough has to freeze and then bake before the other stuff is added.

https://recipeswap.org/fun/wp-content/uploads/swap-photos/IMG_0880.jpg

 
Sorry I missed your request.

Did you notice the fresh tomatoes were seeded before they were salted and sugared to drain? That takes out a lot of moisture. I also let mine go longer than an hour, just because I was puttering in the kitchen making lots of things and I got to it when I got to it.

We devoured this and plan on making another before the tomatoes and basil say goodbye soon.

I have pics of it in process and baked, but never figured out how to post pix here. Is there a updated guide?

 
I did seed the tomatoes. Mine drained for 1.5 hours and was still exuding liquid, so I gave them

a little spin in the salad spinner. My crust was so thin I didn't want to take a chance it would completely mush out.

It worked out really well. I'm baking Deb's Cheeez-it's version as I type. I roasted 2/3 of the tomatoes and gave the fresh pieces a spin after straining them. Deb's recipe doesn't call for the dual method but it was so good in the Saveur recipe I'll do it forever and ever, amen.

I also loved your idea to just snip the basil directly over the tart. So much less bruising on the leaves that way.

 
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