Tomato pie is one of those Southern staples that seems to have been around forever. It’s best served during the summer when tomatoes are at their best, and it can be found in restaurants and home kitchens across the South this time of year.
Actually, though, tomato pie has only been around since sometime in the 1970s when cooks were trying to come up with tasty ways to use an abundance of summer tomatoes. And it didn’t take long for recipes — all trying to outdo each other — to appear in Junior League cookbooks, community cookbooks and other food-related publications.
(READ MORE: For a great tomato pie, get the crust right)
I’ve experimented with different tomato pie recipes through the years. My mother had an excellent recipe that I’ve tweaked from time to time, but always go back to the original because it’s so good and reminds me of my precious momma. But recently I went on a search for something different and found one from Ree Drummond, a.k.a. The Pioneer Woman.
We Southerners love our mayo, particularly Duke’s. But in a tomato pie, it can be too much of a good thing. This recipe calls for a half cup of mayonnaise, and that’s plenty because it doesn’t cover up the flavor of summer tomatoes. I also like the fact that she adds a little blue cheese for a nice tangy flavor to her pie. Some cooks commented that they would leave it out. I guess it all just depends on whether or not one likes that sharp flavor of blue cheese. I do, so in it went, but you can certainly leave it out.