Tomato pie (pizza)

[Kent Wang]

There's another thread about tomato pies that are actually pies, not pizzas.

Now, for the pizza commonly called a tomato pie:

Made from tomatoes from the farmers market, the best tomatoes I've ever had since my childhood.

This was inspired by the tomato pie I had at Frank Pepe's in New Haven, Connecticut which was similar but made with flavorless industrial tomatoes. So it was actually not very good at all. My friend Robin commented that this is perhaps an American invention as all the pizzas he's seen in Italy (having lived there for a while) if they had tomatoes on them used cherry tomatoes, not the full size kind. Is this true?

In Philadelphia, I stopped in at a not-very-fancy-or-renowned pizzeria with Katie Loeb to buy some pizza dough and the kind lady gave me a slice of their tomato pie, which was just like a pizza with a lot of tomato sauce. It was cold and all that sauce made the top of the crust soggy.

Those two tomato pies plus the one I made myself (which was amazing) are the only ones I've ever had. Please tell me more about this interesting genre.

[snowangel]

If you look here, you will see another example of a tomato pizza (albeit, made with phyllo rather than regular pizza dough).

A link to a recipe similar or exact to what I originally got from an old issue of Gourmet can be found here.

We here in MN (cold nights, not very warm days, and very dry conditions) are a while from fresh home-growns, but this is always on our summer menu. Add some sweet corn, and a meal to behold!

[suzilightning]

the shop is gone now but Ren at Pies On Pizza in Lake Hopatcong used to make the most incredible tomato pies. The White pizza on Tuesday and the Pesto on Wednesday.

One was a pesto pizza. thin crust, a smear of pesto, extremely thin slices of fresh tomato(so it wasn't too soggy) and finished with garlic bread crumbs.

The other was the crust, a very thin layer of white, grated cheeses, the thin slices of tomato and the garlic bread crumbs.

a friend of mine features a different type of tomato pie at her place - it is more of a quiche. This is how she phrases it:

Cheddar Tomato Pie - "A slice of summer" Fresh tomaotes, basil, scallions, mayo and Vermont cheddar cheese

[KatieLoeb]

Kent:

The tomato pie we tried at Iannelli's was definitely of the Trenton/Philly school of thought. Usually square like a "Sicilian" pie in other places, rather doughy and topped with nothing but sauce. It's the vehicle for the sauce to shine. The better the sauce, the better the tomato pie. I think if we'd tried those slices a bit earlier in the day you might have been more impressed. It was pretty good tomato pie as they go, just a bit long in the tooth that afternoon. Supposed to be served room temp/cold.

There's quite a battle for best tomato pie in Philly. Contenders in South Philly (Iannelli's), Manayunk (Marchiano's) , Northeast (Tony's Tomato Pies), etc. It's definitely its own thing and the object of much culinary affection 'round these parts.