Breathe Magazine

You won’t see a lot of recipes coming from me… at least not Lindsey originals. I’m not a good cook and I tend to burn myself every time, but lately — perhaps due to the onslaught of Julie & Julia previews — I’ve been feeling inspired and adventurous. The recipes you will see on my posts will most always come by way of someone less culinarily challenged than yours truly, like this amazing one my friend shared with me for a tomato pie:

OK, so, it’s more like a tomato TART, but still…it’s so easy, and so yummy, and so perfect for summer tomatoes.

I use a store bought pie crust, like Pillsbury — not a frozen one, but they’re usually in the refrigerator section near the dairy. Like where you’d buy biscuits in a can.

OK, so…follow the directions for your pie crust. Always pre-bake the shell so it’s not raw when you put the tomatoes in.

While the shell is baking, slice up your tomatoes however thick or thin you like. Then place them in a single layer on a few paper towels, and salt them — liberally — with salt. Doesn’t matter what kind, really, but you want to be generous with the salt, and you want it to be fine-grain, not like sea salt. (This is the secret to the tomato pie — the salt keeps the tomatoes from being too liquid-y.)

When the pie shell is done, you put about a handful or a handful and a half or shredded mozzarella in, top it with a few leaves of shredded fresh basil or any other herbs you like, and then top with the sliced tomatoes so it looks all pretty.

Then you bake it at around 350 for 20-30 minutes until it’s all bubbly and smells yummy. If you can wait for it to cool a little bit, it will cut a lot easier, but I usually can’t wait.

Tomatoes are all over the farmers markets right now so you should have your pick of the crop. For mine, I used two different varieties of heirloom tomatoes (my favorite!), sliced up nice and thick. The result was delicious, but it wasn’t pretty (hence no pics). Maybe one day I’ll be brave enough to post images of my creations like Kath. But if you have any pretty pics of your own tomato pies or your own fabulous tomato recipe, please do share!