Tomato and Cheddar Pie

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Place 1 of the pie crusts into a 9-inch pie dish. If it does not hang over the edge of the dish by about ½ inch you will need to roll the dough out a little.
3. Place the second of the pie crusts over the top of the dish just to get the size, it should be just a tad bigger than the outside lip of the top of the dish. If not you will need to roll that dough out. Cut the top piece of dough into 1 ¼ inch wide strips. Place the strips onto a plate. ** If you do not wish to make the lattice top then skip this step.
4. Put both the bottom pie shell and the strips of pie dough into the refrigerator, for about 20 minutes.
5. In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese, ½ cup of the cheddar cheese, 2 tablespoons of scallions and the egg yolk only (save the whites for later). Set the mixture to the side.
6. Mix the remaining 1 ½ cups of cheddar cheese and the mayonnaise in a small bowl. Set to the side.
7. Put the cream cheese mixture into the bottom pie shell. Spread the mixture in an even layer over the bottom, and slightly up the sides.
8. Put half of the sliced tomatoes into the crust in nice even layers, over that mixture.
9. Over the tomatoes, sprinkle half of the salt, pepper and basil and 1/4 cup of the scallions.
10. Put half of the cheddar and mayo mixture over the tomatoes in small dollops.
11. Layer the other half of the tomatoes over that, and repeat with the remaining seasonings and the cheese mixture. Now it’s time to add the top crust.
12. Preheat oven to 400 F. You will use 6 strips of strips of dough to make the lattice top (it’s like weaving a basket ). Use the 2 longest strips for the center pieces. Place 1 of the longest strips of the pie dough in the center, then place two strips evenly on either side of that, leaving about 1 inch in between; be sure to dust off any extra flour if necessary. Only these 3 strips of pie dough will be moved in the next steps.
13. Turn the pie so that the dough strips are vertical to you. Pull the center strip of dough half way back toward you, and place another strip of dough over the other two strips of dough, then place the center strip back over. Again you are weaving the strips.
14. Now pull the left and right strips of dough up towards the top of the pie, over the strip you just laid out, and place another longer strip in the center, on top of the other center strip to make a cross in the middle of the pie, put the two strips back over.
15. Pull the first center strip of dough up, over the strip you just laid out, place the last strip of dough over the left and right strips of dough on the bottom side of the pie, and place the center strip back over. Now you should have a nice basket weave pattern made of dough.
16. Pull and fold the excess dough hanging over the dish up to the outside edge of the dish and crimp the edges to seal the dough together and make a pretty edge.
17. Mix the reserved egg white with about 1 tablespoon of water. Brush over the top crust.
18. Sprinkle coarse salt over the top of the crust.
19. Place in a 400 F oven for 35 to 45 minutes, until the crust is golden and crisp.

* If you are not comfortable making the lattice top then do not cut the top crust into strips in step 3, and skip steps 12 through 15. Instead, just place the second crust over top of the pie and crimp the edges of the toip and bottom crusts together and cut slits in the top for the steam to escape.