Tomato Bacon Zucchini Hand Pies
Burst of garden fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil and zucchini, baked with 3 cheeses & a corn masa crust that is truly life changing. We call it "garden crack"
Ingredients
Filling
- 2 cups chopped Roma or other variety of tomatoes (about 4 to 5 depending on size) Chop into 1/2-inch pieces
- 2 cups chopped zucchini (if small leave skin on, if overgrown, peel some skin off) Chop into 1/2-inch pieces
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 3 to 4 cloves garlic
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (=1-1/2 teaspoons dried)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup shredded swiss cheese
- 1 cup mayo
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley or basil (additional from above)
Ultimate Corn Masa Crust
- 1/2 cup corn meal
- 1-1/2 cups masa harina
- 2-1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup butter (8 ounces, which equals 2 cubes), room temp or if cold, cut into very small pieces
- 2 cups frozen corn (thawed)
- 1 cup water
Instructions
Filling
- Stir the 3 cheeses together and set aside, you will use this as you go with the filling and hand pie assembly.
- In a large bowl toss the chopped tomatoes & zucchini together with 1 teaspoon salt.
- Lined a colander with paper towel or clean kitchen towel and place the tomatoes and zucchini in colander. Let sit and drain at room temp for about 30 minutes (up to 1 hour) to draw out liquid.
- After 30 minutes gently squeeze out a little more liquid without crushing the vegetables.
- Add 1-1/2 cups of the shredded cheese to the drained tomatoes and zucchini and set aside.
- In a frying pan cooked the bacon. Let bacon cool and crumble (saving some drippings to cook onions and garlic).
- In same frying pan saute the onions and garlic just enough to make them sweat a little (2 to 3 minutes).
- Add the bacon, onions & garlic, and basil to the tomatoes & zucchini. The filling is now ready for the hand pies.
Topping
- Stir the remaining 1-1/2 cups shredded cheese with mayo & the additional parsley/basil, set aside for assembly.
Ultimate Corn Masa Crust
- In a large mixing bowl combine corn meal, masa, flour, salt, sugar and baking powder and stir until thoroughly mixed together.
- Add the butter and cut in with a large fork until mixture is crumbly.
- In a blender add the corn and water (you can do 2 batches if needed). Blend about 20 to 30 seconds, you should still see some small pieces of corn.
- Pour all at once into the dry ingredients, give it a good few heavy handed stirs, and pull the dough together by hand to form a ball. If it seems too "dry" had a 1 to 2 tablespoons of cold water.
Hand Pie Assembly
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Using extra masa, roll out dough in sections to about 1/4 inch thick. Ever so slightly thicker is okay. Cut circles 5 inches round. (I used a 4-1/2 inch cookie cutter with the dough slightly thicker than 1/4 inch and then gave each circle and extra roll with the rolling pin to make it about 5 inches in diameter).
- Line a baking sheet with parchment and place cut dough circles. To each dough circle add about 2 to 3 heaping tablespoons of the tomato-zucchini-bacon mixture. Fold up dough around filling, pressing together as you go. Spread about 1 tablespoon of the mayo cheese topping on each hand pie.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes at 375 F. They will be bubbling when they come out of the oven. Eat warm!
- This makes about 15-16 hand pies (pretty sure, but we lost count as we ate some as soon as they came out of the oven, hence; garden crack).