Annalena has said , many times, that one takes ideas where they are. Keep your mind and eyes open, and you will find ideas for cooking where you might not imagine. Such is the case here. Two or three times a week, Annalena journeys to the gym, to get beaten up by her trainer, the miraculous Melissa. And while she hates it, she does her cardio on the treadmill. She tries the best she can, but Annalena is not a runner. Rather than runners' high, she experiences runners' annoyance. She cannot do it without television or music. And such was the case last week, while she was watching food network, and a show that is not high on her list was on , "The Neelys."
Now, much that was shown on that recipe, will never make it to Annalena's table. One recipe was exhibited, however, where Annalena said "hmmmm. This would work." And indeed it did. She modified it, because, well, you will see. And it is a terrific recipe.
Heirloom tomatoes have come into season. YAY. And you will use them in this recipe. Two or three large ones. You will also need a pound of mozzarella, and a pie crust. Also, a few leaves of basil.
That is all. The television show counseled using a store bought pie crust. Annalena cannot consent to this. Read labels. And you can make your own piecrust very easily. Annalena provides instructions on this blog site, however, to review. You need 14 tablespoons of unsalted butter (that's two tablespoons short of two sticks). You divide them into 9 tablespoons, and 5 tablespoons (9 tablespoons is a stick plus one). Cut the butter into small cubes. Wrap the smaller amount and put in the freezer, together with a bag containing 2.25 cups of flour mixed with a half teaspoon of salt. Put the 9 tablespoons in your refrigerator. Wait an hour
Now dump the flour in a food processor, with the 9 tablespoons of butter. Process for thirty seconds. Add the 5 tablespoons and pulse, for 20 seconds, twelve times. Add a tablespoon of cider or white vinegar, and 5 tablespoons of ice water. Process for half a minute, stop, and open the machine. Press some dough in your fingers. If it adheres easily, groovy. If not, add two more tablespoons of water do the same thing, and you'll be done. Plop this on a table, gather it together, divide it into two equal pieces, and wrap each one in foil.
You only need one for this pie, so put the other in the freezer against another pie in the future (and Annalena thanks the formidable Rose Levy Bernbaum for this recipe). Refrigerate the other overnight.
Take your pie crust out about 1.5-2 hours before you want to bake. About a half hour before baking, get your tomatoes, and slice them. Annalena used a green one, a yellow one, and a red one. Make your slices about a quarter inch thick, and lay them on a paper towel to drain some of the liquid. Get a pound of GOOD quality mozzarella (in the tv show, the mozzarella was in the shape of a block. DO NOT USE THIS. This was supermarket mozzarella. Get the good stuff). You can use plain, or smoked. Smoked is really good. Slice that, too. Count the number of slices of tomato you have. That's how many slices of cheese you'll need.
Let's roll out the pie crust. Sprinkle a good amount of flour on your surface, and roll out the dough evenly, to about 11-12 inches in diameter.
And here's one of Annalenas tricks of the trade. Take a baking sheet, turn it upside down and put some parchment down. Put the piecrust on it, and then start layering slices of tomato and cheese. Alternate tomato and cheese, and alternate colors of tomatoes. Do the layering about two inches in from the border, and then fold it up around the tomatoes.
Put this in a 375 oven for about 45 minutes. You'll have a beautiful, light brown tart. It might be soft if you didn't get enough water out of the tomatoes, but it will still be good. Put some basil leaves on it, and then let it cool. When it firms up, move it as best you can to a serving plate. If it won't move easily, just serve it from the baking sheet. Here's a picture of Annalena's:
Tasted good, too
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