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Recipe

Double-Corn Tomato Crisp

Early fall bounty stars in this warm and savory Southern side dish

By CJ Lotz Diego
Recipe by Dorie Greenspan

September 24, 2021

Photo: Mark Weinberg

“There’s a time,” writes the author Dorie Greenspan in her new cookbook, Baking with Dorie, “when the markets are so full of wonderful tomatoes that I stock up as though they won’t be available the next day. It was after such a spree that I made my first tomato crisp. That I kept making it beyond the summer, and that it was still good, is a testament to the crisp—even average tomatoes are appealing once baked into this dish. And, yes, frozen corn can be used too.

Serve as part of a brunch, put it next to grilled fish—I love it with swordfish—or spoon out alongside burgers, steaks, or any kind of chicken. And while you might think it would be at its best straight out of the oven, the flavors are actually best when the crisp is just warm and still good at room temperature.”

Read our interview with Greenspan about baking, memories of the South, and biscuits.

Ingredients

  • Double-Corn Tomato Crisp (Yield: 6 Servings)

    • 1 batch filling (recipe follows)

    • 1 batch topping (recipe follows)

  • For the filling

    • 2 lb. (907 grams) ripe tomatoes, any kind and any size, cored and cut into 1- to 2-inch chunks

    • Kernels from 2 ears corn (about 2 cups; 280 grams)

    • 1 small onion, finely chopped, rinsed in cold water and patted dry

    • 1 tbsp. olive oil

    • 1 tbsp. sherry vinegar or balsamic vinegar

    • 1 tbsp. honey

    • 1 tsp. fine sea salt, or more to taste

    • ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste

    • Pinch of cayenne pepper or a squirt of hot sauce (optional)

    • 3 tbsp. finely chopped fresh herbs, such as basil, coriander, parsley and/or thyme

  • For the topping

    • 1 cup (176 grams) yellow cornmeal

    • ½ cup (68 grams) all-purpose flour

    • 1 tbsp. sugar, or more to taste

    • 1 tsp. fine sea salt

    • ¾ stick (6 tbsp.; 3 oz.; 85 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks

Preparation

  1. To make the filling: Put all of the ingredients except the herbs in a large bowl and stir to mix. Set aside, stirring occasionally, while you preheat the oven and make the topping. Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat and put a 2-quart baking dish, round, square or rectangular, on it; Pyrex, enamel or pottery is good here.

  2. To make the topping: Put all the ingredients except the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer or a medium bowl and stir them together. Drop in the butter and toss to coat the pieces with cornmeal and flour. Attach the bowl to the mixer stand, if using, fit it with the paddle attachment and, working on medium low speed, beat until you’ve got a bowl full of fine nubbins. Or, if you’re working by hand, rub everything together to break down the butter. When you squeeze some of the mixture between your fingers, it should hold together.

  3. To assemble and bake the crisp: Using a slotted spoon, lift the tomato and corn mixture out of the bowl and into the baking dish. Scoop out ¼ cup of the delicious liquid from the bowl and pour it over the vegetables, add the herbs, and mix to blend well. (If you’ve got leftover juices, hold onto them! Pour into a jar and refrigerate—they’ll make a good drink over ice—think gazpacho—or the base for a nice vinaigrette.) Taste and see if you want more salt, pepper and/or cayenne or hot sauce.

  4. To cover the vegetables with the topping, grab small amounts of the topping, squeeze into clumps and drop onto the vegetables; even it with your fingers. Bake the crisp for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the topping is browned and the filling is bubbling madly. Transfer the baking dish to a rack and let the crisp rest. You can dig in after about 20 minutes, but the flavors and textures are better when the crisp is warm rather than hot, or at room temperature. The crisp can be kept at room temperature for about 8 hours.

  5. STORING: Leftover crisp can be refrigerated and reheated in a 350-degree oven before serving.

Excerpted from Baking With Dorie: Sweet, Salty, & Simple © 2021 by Dorie Greenspan. Photography © 2021 by Mark Weinberg. Reproduced by permission of Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.

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