Spring 2022 Recipes

Culinary secrets from the kitchen of John Roemer!

Tomato Pie

If you grew up in Maryland like I did, you will associate certain things with warm weather: scrapple with grape jam, Black-Eyed Susans with Preakness, steamed blue crabs with J.O., pit beef with tiger sauce, Utz chips, Berger’s cookies, National Bohemian beer, Smith Island Cake, and, in late summer, heirloom tomatoes from “down-the-‘Shore.” If you’ve tried to grow your own, August and September are more like a tomato-giveaway free-for-all. What to do with all those tomatoes? Well, if you grew up in the Roemer household, where a few too many tomato plants could likely be found in the garden, tomato season means tomato pie.

I’ll give you a general framework for the dish, but this is a dish that is designed to show off the flavor of your tomatoes, be creative!

Ingredients:

  • 9-inch pie shell
  • 6 heirloom tomatoes, large & very ripe
  • Fresh basil, finely chopped
  • Mayonnaise – as a binding agent
  • Cheese, shredded (I like mozzarella but cheddar works and so do blends!)
  • Seasoning – salt, pepper, garlic. Paprika and chili powder complement cheddar.

Preparation:

  1. Prepare the tomatoes – Chunk or slice the tomatoes to at least ¼” thickness, marinate in olive oil for 20 minutes, and then lay them in a single layer on a paper-towel lined baking sheet. Cover in salt then layer paper towels on top and let sit for ten minutes.
  2. Mix the base – Combine cheese, basil, mayo, and seasoning until fully combined.
  3. Arrange – place pie shell into pie dish and layer tomatoes and cheese mixture until full. Finish layering with some tomatoes on top and press the tomatoes in to help the mixture come together. Sprinkle additional basil if desired.
  4. Bake – Cook in an oven at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes, until the cheese melts and becomes bubbly.

 

 

Pit Beef

If the grill is more your thing, nothing tastes more like summer than our own version of roast beef. A perfect pit beef requires a deli slicer to get the meat paper thin but I’ve improvised where necessary. This works best when the roast sits about two feet from the fire, but an indirect set-up on a standard backyard kettle grill works as well. Imitate a rotisserie by rotating the roast every twenty minutes. The best pit beef is charred on the outside and bloody on the inside where varying degrees of doneness can be achieved around the roast.

Ingredients:

  • 2 – 6 lb. top or bottom round beef roast
  • 1 tbsp coarse kosher salt
  • 1 tbsp freshly ground pepper
  • 2 raw onions (for serving)
  • Kaiser rolls (for serving)
    • Tiger Sauce:
  • 1 cup mayo
  • ½ cup horseradish
  • 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
  • Cayenne (optional)

Directions

  1. Prepare the tiger sauce. Mix mayo, horseradish, and pepper and allow to sit while cooking the roast.
  2. Trim excess fat and silver skin from the roast. If the roast is oddly-shaped, use butcher string to give it uniform thickness for cooking uniformity. Observe which way the grain of the meat is running as you will need to slice the roast across the grain. It is easiest to observe the grain when meat is raw.
  3. Dry brine the meat a day in advance if possible with ½ teaspoon of salt per pound of meat. Before cooking, moisten the meat and apply seasonings.
  4. Fire up your grill for 2-zone indirect heat. You’ll want the indirect side at 225 degrees.
  5. Cook the roast with the lid on, rolling the roast every 20-30 minutes as each side becomes darker. Aim for 115 degrees in the deepest part of the roast. Transfer roast to direct heat and roll it every 5 minutes or so until the exterior is a deep mahogany and the center temp is 125-130 degrees for medium-rare. Roasts continue to cook for 5-10 minutes and 5-10 degrees after being removed from the grill so rest the roast for about 15 minutes.
  6. Slice the meat thinly across the grain. If your knife becomes parallel to the grain, rotate the roast and continue shaving the meat off. The thinner the better. For guests who like chewy meat, you can throw it back on the grill.
  7. Serve by mounding the beef high on a Kaiser roll, drizzle on tiger sauce, and scatter thinly sliced onion rings on top.