Here in the Deep South, it’s usually already plenty steamy by the time the official start of summer rolls around. Even if it’s not hot enough to fry an egg on the hood of your car where you live, why not plan to have a lovely, cool dinner that doesn’t require firing up the oven in the heat of the day? My tomato pie can be made in the morning, preferably using dead-ripe local tomatoes, and served at room temperature. We usually snag our tomatoes from the garden of our Ebbtide neighbor, Tompkins, but he’s probably going to notice if all of y’all do that, so better head to your local produce stand to buy your own ’maters. The chicken salad, one of my most-requested recipes, showed up in Little Bitty Lies, in which the protagonist, Mary Bliss McGowan, fakes her missing husband’s death to cash in on his life insurance policy.
SERVES 8