Pesto Tomato Pie

Don’t skip pre-baking the crust here. Even though you are salting and draining the tomatoes, it will be juicy and messy, so if you pre-bake the crust you can avoid raw crust syndrome. Juicy and messy ate never bad things as long as you don’t have a soggy bottom.

Ingredients:

 9-inch pie crust

5 cups (1/2 pounds) sliced tomatoes

1 teaspoon salt 

1/4 cup pesto

1 cup freshly grated Asiago cheese

1/2 cup diced red onion 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out pie crust and fit into a 9-inch pie pan. Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork or use pie weights to weigh down the crust. Bake for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, slice tomatoes and combine with salt in a strainer set over a bowl. Shake occasionally to encourage draining. Allow tomatoes to release moisture for about 20 minutes, capturing juice for future sauces or salad dressings. Remove crust from the oven and spread about 3 Tablespoons of the pesto in the bottom of the crust. Sprinkle about half of the cheese on top of the pesto. Add red onions on top of cheese. Layer on tomatoes and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for 45 minutes. 

Remove from the oven and smear the remaining pesto on the top of the tomatoes. Serve with Corn Salad, corn on the cob, cucumber salad, Stuffed Squash Blossoms, Chilled Cucumber Soup, Marinated Summer Squash Salad or Toasted Peanut Green Beans.