Good in the 'Hood

     Recently I have boasted of several regional culinary delights that we locals enjoy and brag about.  You know, the kinds of foods that aren't found anywhere else, like cheese steaks and scrapple and shoo fly pie.  Today I'm going to highlight another one that is found here and in only a few other places across our proud land.  It's the tomato pie.

     While it somewhat resembles a Sicilian pizza, in that it is baked in a large aluminum pan and cut and served in square slices, it is traditionally served at room temperature, unlike a triangular piece of pizza hot out of the wood fired oven.  It's foundation is a thick, porous dough that resembles focaccia in structure and is covered with tomato sauce, then sprinkled with grated Romano and/or Parmesan cheese.  This variation on a theme is a strictly northern US creation.  Ask for a tomato pie anywhere in the south and you will get tomatoes, mayonnaise, basil and cheese baked in a double crusted pie shell, a la Paula Deen.
     Out of curiosity I looked "tomato pie" up on Wikipedia and found the following quote:  "Notable locations serving the dish are Trenton, New Jersey, Lewes, Delaware, Norristown, Pennsylvania, and Utica, New York."  Wow!  International recognition for something we have right in our own back yard!  So I investigated a little bit further on-line and discovered that the absolute best place in the Norristown area to get tomato pie is at a little unassuming place on Old Arch Road, Corropolese Bakery & Deli.
     There's even a web site extolling the celebrity of the tomato pie served there.  Click on Ode to Corropolese to learn more and to get their recipe.