Pies usually refer to sweet desserts, but one savory version of the dish that you cannot forget about is tomato pie. Most often, tomato pie is best served and eaten warm, but that can be a tricky task if you need to make it ahead of time. Then there’s the situation where you have leftover tomato pie. To make the most of your pie piled with those ripe, juicy tomatoes, here are a couple of tips to make sure it’s warm from the dish to the plate.
Similar to how steaks need to rest before slicing, the first step with tomato pie is to allow it to cool enough so the filling firms up. This might only take around 20 minutes. Ripe tomatoes are inherently watery, and you don’t want any of that juice or the rest of the pie to fall apart after it’s sliced. As long as you don’t let your pie turn completely cold, it should be warm and ready to serve. Cover it with aluminum foil so it stays warm during the process, but don’t cover it too tightly or condensation might build up and ruin the whole point.
The best ways to store and serve tomato pie
The process is a little different if you don’t want to serve the whole pie or have leftovers for tomorrow. Let the whole tomato pie cool completely on the counter. Then, slice the pie according to your needs. Now, you have two options to reheat it. To make it quick, throw it in the microwave for just a few seconds. If you don’t like to use the microwave to reheat leftover food, preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, put the slices on a baking sheet, and heat for around 10 to 15 minutes.
There are some other tips to make the tomatoes delicious for your pie. A step that will ensure the tomatoes aren’t too watery in the pie is to salt and cook them first. Allow them to cool on a paper towel so there isn’t too much juice that will go into the pie, and you might not need to allow it to rest for as long. It’s also important to par-bake the crust so that it’s crispy and doesn’t turn soggy. And if you want to test out these tips with a different recipe than the one above, here’s our heirloom tomato ricotta tart recipe that’s ready in just over an hour.
