Summer Tomatoes

It's that time of year when the tomatoes start comin' in. This year, I planted two varieties - Brandywine and Cherokee Purple - and they are both delicious.

Admittedly, one of the best ways to eat a tomato is sliced, with salt and pepper, on bread with some Duke's mayonnaise. But this past weekend, I was inspired to be a bit more creative...plus, I had other ingredients I wanted to use up. That's when I recalled a post on the Southern Foodways Alliance blog about Birmingham-based fashion designer Billy Reid and his favorite tomato pie recipe.

First, I cooked some applewood smoked bacon outside (sorry, Porky and Bess):

Gathered my ingredients from the "garden" - a couple of Brandywine tomatoes and fresh oregano and basil:

Chopped everything up (along with half of a Vidalia onion):

Assembled the pie in a ready-made crust (one of those ingredients I was talking about needing to use) and topped off with a pimiento-less pimiento cheese composed of the aforementioned heavenly Duke's mayo, sharp cheddar cheese, some Thomasville Tomme from Sweetgrass Dairy and some Sriracha sauce for good measure. (Sriracha sauce may rival Duke's mayo as the condiment of the gods.)

Then baked at 375 degrees for an hour - 30 minutes covered with tin foil and 30 minutes completely nekkid. And voila~

And boo-yah:

Tomatoes and bacon - need I say more?