You asked for it, so here you go! I made these for our first Wake Forest tailgate last night. Tomato pie is one of my favorite dishes, and I wanted to make something that was hearty enough for a tailgate but that also still reminded me of summer...since it's been SO hot and humid this week. Little did I know that it would pour down rain and cool off to 70ish degrees. Ha! These were a little time consuming, so give yourself ample time to make these and let them cool before you attempt to transport them.
Ingredients:
16 mini pie crusts (found in the frozen section)
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (may need less)
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes
1 cup basil
1/2 cup green onions
2 cups shredded cheddar jack cheese
1 cup good mayonnaise (I always use Duke's)
Method:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove pie crusts from packaging and allow to thaw for about 10 minutes. Poke holes in the pie crust with a fork. Sprinkle about 1T Parmesan cheese in the bottom of each crust. Bake on a cookie sheet for 6 minutes or until slightly golden. Reduce oven temp to 350 degrees. Allow tarts to cool for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, cut the tomatoes into fourths and drain in a colander. Finely chop the basil and green onions and combine or throw them into your food processor and let it do the work. In a separate bowl, combine cheese and mayonnaise. Add enough tomatoes to cover the bottom of the crusts then add 1-2 tsp of the basil mixture, depending on your taste. Top the tomatoes and basil mixture with 1-2 T of the mayo mixture, spreading evenly, depending on the size of your crusts.
Bake on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Allow to cool almost completely and remove from the aluminum liners onto paper towels to drain.
Make sure you have a fork to serve these delicious tarts with because they are a little delicate.
Happy Cooking!
