First, make the pie crust (or cheat and sprinkle a store-bought one with the Cajun spices and roll them in.) As soon as the pie crust is in the fridge, salt the tomatoes and put in a strainer to drain.

Savory Pie Crust:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 3/4 teaspoons Emeril’s Essence or a Cajun spice blend, see recipe
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 3 to 4 tablespoons ice water (may need a little more)
• 1 egg, separated (the white gets brushed over the baked crust, the yolk is used in the filling.)

In the bowl of a food processor combine flour, Cajun spice, salt, and butter and process until mixture has mostly pea sized lumps, erring on the side of larger lumps.

Remove to a bowl. Run your fingers through the mixture and pinch any large pieces of butter into flat discs. Add water while tossing vigorously with a fork. Continue to add until the dough seems to be coming together (there will be a lot of loose flour and bits.)

Turn onto a counter and smoosh across the dough with the heel of your hand. Gather together, with the dough, any loose particles and smoosh again. Repeat the gathering and smooshing a third time.

Take a look at the dough and dribble a little bit of water on any dry areas and gently work it in by pinching it together. Gather it up into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for one hour or overnight.

Remove from refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured surface to desired shape and thickness, for this recipe, large enough for a 9 or 10 inch deep dish pie plate. Place crust in pie plate and crimp edges.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes before baking, then preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. and blind bake:

Line with aluminum foil. Fill with pie weights and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until lightly golden around the edges. Remove foil and pie weights, and return to the oven for 3 to 5 minutes until the bottom looks somewhat dry.

Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. While the crust is still warm, crack the egg in a small bowl, reserving yolk for the filling, separately. Lightly beat the egg white with a fork, then brush the surface of pie crust with a light coating of egg white and allow to cool.

Yield: 1 pie shell

The Tomato Pie:

• 2 pounds ripe tomatoes, about 4 medium large *
• Salt (about a teaspoon to strain the tomatoes) and freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup (about half of a Vidalia onion; cut in half from stem to root, then very, very thinly slice across
• 3/4 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1 egg yolk, reserved from the crust
• 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• 2 tablespoons chiffonade fresh basil
• 3/4 cup grated good quality cheddar cheese *
• 3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese *
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 tablespoons grated Parmesan

As soon as the crust is made (to save time, start the water to boil before you start the crust) cut a shallow “X” in the bottom of the tomato, about an inch in each direction. Drop tomatoes into boiling water for about 30 seconds, then remove. Peel tomatoes and slice into 3/8″ rounds.

Salt the tomato slices, using about a teaspoon of salt, then place in a strainer over a larger bowl to drain and remove excess moisture.

Mix together egg yolk, mayonnaise and herbs in a small bowl. Set aside. Mix together the cheddar and mozzarella in a small bowl, set aside. Measure breadcrumbs and set out.

When the crust has cooled, begin the layering.

First layer:

• add 1/3 of the bread crumbs to the bottom of the crust
• add 1/2 of the tomatoes in a single layer
• sprinkle with black pepper
• sprinkle 1/2 of the onion
• drizzle with 1/2 the mayo mixture
• sprinkle with half the mozzarella & cheddar cheeses

2nd layer:

• sprinkle 1/3 of the breadcrumb mixture
• layer the remaining tomatoes
• sprinkle with pepper
• layer remaining onion
• drizzle with remaining mayo mixture
• add the remaining mozzarella and cheddar cheese

Top with:

• the remaining third of the breadcrumb mixture
• the Parmesan cheese
• drizzle with olive oil

Place in the oven and bake until bubbly hot and golden brown, about 1 hour and 15 minutes, covering the top by laying a piece of foil over it after 30 minutes. When done, the top should be golden brown and the pie crust thoroughly cooked and well browned.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.* Serve warm or at room temperature, although this is very good cold, too.

Notes:

• This is made with very juicy garden tomatoes. I can’t comment on how regular store-bought ones will work.
• Do use the best quality cheeses you can for this; some cheaper cheeses may leak oiliness into the pie.
• If the pie still looks very moist after 30 minutes, you might wish to gently and very carefully tilt for a few seconds and drain a bit of the juices out. This is risky…

from the kitchen of http://www.frugalhausfrau.com, adapted from Emeril LaGasse