Have you ever had a Philly-style tomato pie? It’s pretty rockin. The bottom is this a thick, chewy pizza crust, golden and shining with olive oil. And the top is this thick, rich, tomato sauce….ugh, soooo good. Obviously I can’t eat it any more, because of my dumb wheat allergy thing.

side note- I actually do have a chewy GF pizza crust recipe tucked away, but it’s a thin crust and I’m not ready to break it out on the blog just yet.

Anyways, I made this absolute bastardized version of Philly tomato pie. I actually feel bad calling it tomato pie at all, because really the only thing that they have in common in the sauce. Oh but what a sauce it is. It tastes so so much like the real thing….perhaps because it is the real thing. It’s a recipe from the great Kenji Alt-Lopez, James Beard award winner and foodie lord. So you know it’s good. I made a few personal tweaks, but yeah, it’s pretty much his sauce.

Okay. Let’s talk about the bottom of this. For practical purposes, I will call it a crust, though it’s anything but. It’s far more akin to a creamy dreamy risotto, all but melting in your mouth. It’s made of rice and zucchini (holla overgorwn zucchini crop) and a few other things, onion and such. All you do is grate/spiralize up some nice, firm zucchini. Don’t get those nasty spongy ones. Squeeze all the excess moisture from those squashies, and then mix it up with some pre-cooked rice.

Press that zucchini-rice mix into an oven-safe skillet and toss it in the oven. While it’s baking, make that sauce. Your kitchen will smell like a mom-n-pop pizzeria.  After the sauce is done, spread it over the the crust-not-crust and return it to the oven. Get your oven mitts ready because the handle of the skillet will be hot, obvs. Serve this baby up with a cool, crunchy salad and a jammy glass of red wine. Dig in, kids.

Zucchini Tomato Pie

zucchini rice crust

• 3 1/2 lbs zucchini
• 2 cups cooked white rice
• 1/2 tsp microplane garlic
• 1/2 cup chopped white onion
• aquafaba from 1 can of white beans (if non-vegan, you may use an egg)
• salt

for the sauce:

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves of crushed garlic
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp  dry oregano
• 1 1/2 tbsp crushed red pepper
• one shallot, thinly sliced
• a 28 oz can or whole peeled tomatoes
• 1-2 tbsp sugar
• salt

1. Spiralize the zucchini (or grate it). Place it in a cloth and squeeze squeeze squeeze out all the excess moisture. After you are done removing all the water, the zucchini should weigh about 1 3/4 – 2 lbs.
2. Preaheat oven to 400
3. Combine the zucchini with the white rice, garlic, onion, and aquafaba. Add a little salt to taste.
4. Press zucchini mix into a 12″ oven-safe skillet and bake for 40 minutes
5. While the zucchini mix is baking, start the sauce. Warm the olive oil over medium heat till shimmering.
6. Add the garlic, shallot, red pepper, and oregano, and cook until soft and fragrant….it will take about 60-90 seconds
7. Crush up the tomatoes in a food processor, and pour into the pan. Add the bay leaf and the sugar. Lower heat to med-low.
8. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the 40 minutes of the zucchini bake is up.
9. Add some salt to the sauce to taste.
10. Spoon the sauce smoothly over the zucchini-rice mix, return to oven for an additional 20 minutes.
11. Garnish with basil leaves and vegan cheese if desired
12. Serve with love.

Sauce from Kenji Lopez-Alt