It wouldn't be summer on the farm without a shout out for this longtime favorite recipe from the Farmgirl Fare recipe archives. Enjoy!
Are there ripe tomatoes in your neck of the woods yet? I was really behind with spring planting in the kitchen garden this year (no surprise there!) so it's still going to be a while before we're picking any tomatoes from our 23 plants, but that's okay. We had a whopping five inches of rain in three days last week (unheard of in July; the creek is even running again), and if there had been any tomatoes on the vines, they wouldn't have liked all that water. The basil plants are going gangbusters though, so when we finally do get our tomatoes the pesto will definitely be ready.
Do tomatoes and basil say summer to you? Do you love pesto and savory pies and melted mozzarella cheese? Then you'll want to celebrate the bounty of summer with this Savory Tomato and Basil Pesto Pie.
This is one of my most popular recipes, and men seem to especially like it. Last summer my friend Susan in Vermont said, "I'm making your tomato pesto pie for dinner tonight. I made it last week, and my husband fell in love with me all over again." You'll find more rave reviews below.
When my pal Finny, who has been known to live by the motto All pie, all the time, first made it back in 2006, she added a layer of insurance for her meat loving husband—cooked and crumbled Italian sausage. How brilliant is that?
If you want to try adding some, too, you'll find my easy recipe for homemade Italian sausage here (no casings required!), and there are helpful step-by-step photos of Finny's version of this pie here, which she makes every year with Brandywine and Better Boy tomatoes from her garden (warning: Finny uses bad words).
If you're scared of pastry crust, you're going to love this recipe. The biscuit dough is practically foolproof, and the pie itself is easy to make but looks impressive and tastes delicious.
Don't believe me? Below is a sampling of rave reviews from the comments section. Thanks so much to all of you who take the time to come back and report on my recipes. And thanks for pinning them on Pinterest too!
Read the Savory Tomato Pesto Pie reviews below. . .
—Absolutely DELISH!!! Pretty easy to construct and oh so worth it! I made it for my family over Labor Day weekend and everyone loved it!
—I made it for dinner tonight and it is right up there with one of the best things to emerge from my oven - ever!! Thank you!
—I made this outstandingly delicious tomato pie last night for dinner, and my boyfriend told me I had to email you to say thank you for the recipe. He couldn't stop saying how delicious it was. I think he had some cold for breakfast this morning. I caught a suspicious whiff of pesto on his breath when he kissed me goodbye.
—We've just finished eating that splendid meal. You would have been delighted to hear my man's ravings with each bite he took. Not only is this tasty beyond reason, it's also open to many variations; the dough is simply perfect and can accomodate any wild inspirations.
—I made the pie last night. Having never made pie crust, I can vouch that the crust is easy to make and is sublime. Turned out light, flaky, and delicious. We ate it again for lunch this afternoon. It was splendid.
—I made this last night and my fiance and I loved it. This one was a great confidence-booster, because the crust was truly easy, and it was just so satisfying and cheesy and good.
—I made this over the weekend to take for lunches this week. All I can say is YUM!!! It tastes great cold and warmed in the microwave. I have never made pie crusts before and this turned out great...even passed the mom's test.
—I finally made this over the weekend. Truly delicious - there was brawling in the kitchen for the leftovers.
—Ohmygoodness this is amazing! It came together fast and gorgeous as promised, and was more filling than expected. My two big carnivorous guy friends loved it and were full after one piece!
—I loved this recipe. It was magical. I didn't have the plum tomatoes, but I just seeded and drained the ones that had grown last week, and it was delightful.
—I’ve never made a pie in my life (or biscuits) but your explanation made me try it. I had no pesto, but had two bunches of cilantro so I found several kinds online and combined them all into one. It had cilantro, lime juice, garlic, cayenne, olive oil, and I added toasted almonds, and parmesan. All I had for cheese was some sharp cheddar, and some parmesan.
I found the crust very easy to make and had no problems (other than I can’t seem to make one round). Another change I made was to add some very crispy bacon in the layers. I came out delicious! By the way………my wife loved that I made the dinner and cleaned up the mess, so all she had to do was enjoy it.
Ready to give it a try now? Enjoy!
Hungry for something else? You'll find links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index.
© FarmgirlFare.com, where All pie, all the time sounds like a very good motto to live by.
My yellow cherry tomatoes are going crazy, the romas are just starting to ripen and the big boys are a couple weeks out. I must try this with your homemade Italian sausage. Have a great summer!
ReplyDeleteThis looks so delicious!!! :)
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness does that ever look good and I have loads of garden produce to use in it.
ReplyDelete