Yes, this recipe is a combination of what I love most (or a lot..): tomato, cheese, phyllo dough and to top it all, fresh basil!

 

 

As I am writing this blog post, I am crying a little. I just received some news from my family, that we lost a dear old relative. She was my youngest uncle’s wife. I last saw her in 2015. She died at the age of 95. My uncle died 21 years ago.. Her death was expected, but still. It hurts. My brain is being bombarded with all my childhood memories which involve her and my uncle, and they are a lot. Now, this has nothing to do with this recipe, I know, but I just had to write about it somewhere. I need to get it out.

 

 

 

But now I’ll try to focus, if I can, on the recipe. This was a recipe that I wanted to work on for a while. I wanted to do it with heirloom tomatoes in fact. However, I missed them when they were out in most of the supermarkets. And when I found them lately in wholesale market, they were extremely expensive! So instead, I used colourful tomatoes.

 

 

Since I first had the thought of making a tomato pie, the crust was to be with phyllo sheets. I love the crispiness and the lightness of phyllo. Even though there is some butter used to stick the layers together, it is not too much and it doesn’t at all make the pie heavy.

 

 

If you can’t find colouruful tomatoes, you can perfectly make it with normal tomatoes. The different colours add a beautiful visual touch, but they are not necessary.

 

Enjoy this recipe with your loved ones. Treasure your family, friends and your loved ones.
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Ingredients:

 

Difficulty: Medium
(serves 6-8, the pie dish is 24cm in diameter)

 

Printable PDF-recipe (no photos)

 

75 gr. butter
7 phyllo sheets
250 gr. ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 tsp salt
2 tsp dried oregano
150 gr. grated mozzarella
about 250 gr. colourful mixed tomatoes (big ones are sliced thin, cherry tomatoes are cut in 2)

 

a handful of basil leaves for topping (optional)

 

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1. Preheat the oven to 200C.

 

2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Grease a 24cm pie dish with some of this melted butter.

 

 

 

3. Put 7 layers of phyllo sheets on top of each other, sticking the layers with melted butter, then transfer it to the pie dish. The detailed steps of how to make this is shown in this recipe: https://mydearkitcheninhelsinki.com/2018/09/23/pumpkin-pie-with-phyllo-crust-autumn-continues/ In that recipe I used 6 layers, so you will just add 1 more layer on top of those for this recipe, as you did with the previous layers.

 

 

 

4. When the phyllo crust is ready on the pie dish, prepare the filling. In a mixing bowl, put ricotta and egg and whisk well.

 

 

 

 

5. Add salt and oregano and continue whisking.

 

 

 

 

6. Add grated mozzarella and whisk again, until all the ingredients are mixed well.

 

 

 

7. Pour the filling into phyllo crust. Spread evenly and smoothen the surface using a spatula or the back of a spoon.

 

 

 

 

8. Arrange the tomatoes on top in any way you like. Press them into the filling so that they combine well.

 

 

 

9. Brush the edge of the crust with remaining melted butter. Put in the oven, in medium rack and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft and cooked and crust is golden brown. After baking, let the pie cool for about 20 minutes before gently taking out of the dish. If you greased the pie dish well, the pie should easily come out. But if you can’t take it out, it’s fine, slice and serve from the dish, no worries. Top with fresh basil leaves if you like. Enjoy!