On a lighter note?  Tomatoe Pie, a  Southern Tradition
Friday, June 12, 2020

Two pies just came out of my oven as I can't just seem to make one Tomato Pie.

I purchased heirloom tomatoes grown on Johns Island, SC today, and added in two types of cheese, Dukes, sprinkled Bacon and small cuts of onion, Italian seasoning (even though a true southern cook would only use Basil) and decided at the last minute to try a little sour cream in the mixture.  Just tried a small taste, and really good with the cheeses and the thin slices of tomatoes.  Next time I will return to the Dukes only, and no sour cream!

It is that time of the year when the home grown tomatoes start coming in from the islands nearby where I live.  I once asked the chef of One Broad his secret for the BLT that he serves only a few months of the year. He always uses his homemade breads, gently grilled.  His secret - were the tomatoes grown on Johns Island, SC.  He shared that it is the richness of the island soil that helps the tomatoes find their great taste.

So why add in to my recipe the cheeses?  Wrapping the tomatoes with fresh cheddar cheese and mixtures of Parmesan and then sprinkled bacon all baked together in a pie crust, is what life is all about, allowing for reminiscing about earlier days with Grandmama in the kitchen as she was slicing the tomato thinly as she sang her favorite hymn. I often wondered if she needed the song to be able to get the tomatoes so evenly sliced.

As we all begin to come out from sheltering, masks and still being careful sanitizing, and after a 3 mile walk, the thought of making my main meal a Tomato Pie slice, was right on.  It was quite a production.  First the thin slicing of the tomatoes, placing on paper towels,  to allowing the juices to drain that keeps the pies from being to loose and watery.  Frying the bacon, draining and cooling without eating to much of the results.  Mixing the Dukes and sour cream and adding in the shredded cheeses.  Then layering it all together in a pie crust.  Grandmama would have made hers from scratch, I used store bought.

Now if I can only find the tomatoes as I sampled out the first slice.  As with many great southern recipes it is the extra's that we often add to the dish that dress up the vegetables such as squash or eggplant and of course the tomato that takes each to a richer universe of taste.  A small slice will do and in southern talk:  "it is rich".

To those who have never heard of Dukes, it is mayonnaise. Dukes is called for in many southern based recipes. In 1917 Eugenia Duke in Greenville, South Carolina created the recipe and it is different as it has more egg yokes than other mayonnaise based products.  Hundreds of recipes call exactly for Duke's. Culture Police leave this alone, will you?  Not sure if my tomatoe pies will be as tasty!




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