You’ve just returned from the farmer’s market with a bag of the ripest heirloom tomatoes — but if you’re bored of tossing the savory fruit into a simple salad, we’ve got the perfect recipe to change up your routine. This summer, we’re baking chef Vivian Howard’s simple, savory tomato pie, a show-stopping main that she originally shared on the PBS show A Chef’s Life.
In case you were wondering, Howard definitely knows her way around a kitchen — in 2025, she opened her restaurant Theodosia at the The Sanderling Resort on the Outer Banks. At Theodosia, Howard uses locally-sourced ingredients to celebrate the rich traditions of eastern North Carolina cooking. But if you aren’t making a trip to the coast anytime soon, a pie night is just what you need.
To make this exciting entrée, you’ll need the best quality fresh tomatoes you can get; after roasting some of them, you’ll caramelize onions (patience is key here). You’ll mix the veggies together for the filling and pile into the crust of your choice, then top the dish with grated Parmigiano Reggiano, grated Fontina cheese, and a dollop of mayo. The end result? A plant-based dinner that even a carnivore will love.
Oh, and if you’re brainstorming your pie crust plans, take a look at Howard’s own routine for baking up a hearty crust from scratch.
Tomato Pie
Ingredients
For the Filling:
- 3 cups diced and drained fresh tomatoes
- 4 cups diced and roasted tomatoes
- 1 cup caramelized onions
- ½ cup picked basil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Sugar
For the Topping:
- ⅓ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- ⅓ cup grated Fontina
- ½ cup mayo
- 1 pie crust
Instructions
- For the diced and drained tomatoes: Dice about 3 cups fresh, high-quality tomatoes. Toss them with a little kosher salt and sugar. Set over a colander while you prepare the remaining ingredients if possible. If not, drain for a minimum of an hour. You should be left with about 2 cups of tomato.
- For the roasted tomatoes: Seed and dice 4 cups fresh, high quality tomatoes. Toss them with olive oil (Howard likes using garlic oil), plenty of kosher salt, and several sprigs of thyme. Spread this mix out on a baking sheet and roast at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. You want the tomatoes to be dry and slightly caramelized, but not burned around the edges. You should be left with about 2 cups of roasted tomato.
- For the onions: Peel and slice (with the grain) 4 medium yellow onions. In a large sauté pan, heat 1/4 cup butter. Add the onions and season them with salt. Let the onions simmer and become juicy. Once the situation becomes a bit drier and much of the onion liquid has cooked out, turn down the heat, to its lowest setting and settle in for a long, slow caramelize. To get these onions where they need to be, it could take about 2 hours. You are looking for a medium brown, sweet caramelization.
- To assemble the filling: Combine the onions, fresh tomatoes, roasted tomatoes, basil, salt, pepper, and sugar to taste. Keep in mind, tomatoes take a lot of seasoning to really make them shine in applications like this.
- To bake and serve: Spread the filling over the bottom of a blind-baked crust. Flatten the topping between wax paper or use your good ol’ hands to create a 1/3-inch thick round of delicious, cheesy topping that spreads nearly to the edges of the pie. Bake at 375 degrees until the top is nicely browned, 20-25 minutes. Serve at just over room temperature.
