This delicious Heirloom Tomato Pie recipe features caramelized onions, goat cheese, fresh basil and bacon! A hearty appetizer, perfect for summer entertaining, this tomato pie highlights summers freshest produce! Easily make gluten free or omit the bacon for a vegetarian dish.
Roll the dough out a bit larger than your pie plate and press it into a greased tart pan or pie plate.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. and blind bake crust. What is blind baking? It simply means to bake your pie crust empty.
Best practice; pierce the pie dough with a fork all over to prevent puffing and slipping, and even better if you line the pie crust with a crumbled then smoothed out piece of parchment paper and fill with pie weights, or use dried beans like I did.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden, remove pie weights and allow to cool completely on wire rack.
Step 2 | Prep Tomatoes & Caramelized Onions
Slice tomatoes into ½ inch slices, laying out on a several layers of paper towels. Sprinkle with kosher salt and let drain on paper towels 15 minutes, flip tomatoes and let drain on other side.
Slice onions into ½ inch slices, heat oil in same skillet as you cooked the bacon (love my cast iron) over medium-low heat; add onions, sprinkle with kosher salt. Stirring frequently, cook until onions start to caramelize, about 8 minutes.
Stir in sugar and red wine vinegar; continue cooking until onions are deep golden brown, stirring frequently. About another 7-10 minutes. Remove from heat until ready to assemble tomato and goat cheese tart.
Step 3 | Assemble Tomato Pie
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place ½ cup of goat cheese in the bottom of the cooled pie crust. Add heirloom tomatoes, overlapping on top of feta cheese. Next sprinkle with fresh chopped basil, crumbled bacon and caramelized onions. Sprinkle on the rest of the goat cheese and bake 20-30 minutes or until tomatoes are soft. Delicious hot or cold.
Notes
Tomato Tart with Puff Pastry
Roll out puff pastry dough until it's about a 12 inch circle, place into greased pie dish (or tart pan), some overhand is the goal here.
Fill puff pastry with Heirloom tomato pie mixture as described above.
Brush puff pastry with a little egg wash (one beaten egg with 1 teaspoon water).
Bake at 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes until golden and tomatoes are soft.
Storage | It is best to eat Heirloom Tomato Pie the day it is baked, room temperature or refrigerated. Refrigerate any leftovers. The tomatoes will continue to emit juices, so the crust will become soggy.TOP TIP | Use fresh tomatoes that have been stored at room temperature on the counter for the best flavor, and do not skip the 30 minutes of salting and draining tomatoes. Doing this will help avoid a SOGGY tomato pie!
Substitutions
Cheese | Sub the goat cheese with feta, shredded mozzarella or sliced fresh mozzarella, or your favorite shredded cheese.
Gluten Free | Easily adapt this recipe to be gluten free, you can make completely crustless, just be sure to start with your tomatoes (not the cheese) and layer away. Or use a gluten free pie crust.
Tomatoes | Substitute Heirloom tomatoes with a beefy tomato, or even slice grape or cherry tomatoes in half.
Vegan or VegetarianTomato Tart| Omit the bacon for vegetarian & vegan. Omit the cheese or sub with plant based cheese and make sure your pie crust is vegan.