Verve, juice, crunch, tang- this is a pie humble only in effort and expense. The basil on the veranda is fragrant and thriving, and the tomatoes at the market heavy and firm. Abundance has lowered their price. They have been on all of our summer tables. In this dish, they star.
Greek baking features a dazzling host of grand variations of the pie ("pita"- like in "spanakopita")- sweet and savory, grand and individual- with fillings nearly as diverse as nature itself. This pie we're having today is very Greek in that it celebrates the generosity of the season, but apart from that it is inspired only my love of the zesty satisfaction of hot tomatoes- a love perhaps more 1950's red sauce Italian than Greek, and the profusion of large leafed basil, pointing again to Italy. Far more substantial than a pizza, but not at all heavy, warm, fragrant, crisp-crusted and golden, it makes a rustic and elegant main dish and will not keep you long near the hot oven.
We will need:
Anything you like for crust- by all means your own hand-rolled phyllo if you like, but I used here some "Perek"- these are crackling dried rounds of thin dough that can be moistened to use as layers of rustic phyllo. 6 come in a pack- this is plenty. One could also use lavash- any type of carpet bread. We need just the three layers on top and on the bottom, and so will be using much less butter than traditional crust calls for.
Perek or Lavash
100 g/ 3.5 oz butter
1 k/ 2 generous lb. of tomatoes
a large bunch of fresh basil
250 g/ half a pound feta
an egg
pepper, and some salt to taste
Wash the tomatoes and put them in a pan on the top rack, with the heat on 200 C/ 400 F- this will blacken their skins and concentrate their juices. Check after 15 or 20 minutes (and throw anything else in on another rack that may need some heat- sliced onions to roast for another dish, stale bread for crumbs or croutons, etc.) The charred skins will slip off easily, and the tomatoes will be surrounded by their golden, thickened juices. While the tomatoes are roasting, melt the butter.
Turn the oven down to 180 C/ 375 F. Assembling the pie will take not five minutes: Coarsely crumble the feta into a bowl, tear the basil leaves and add them along to the feta along with the egg to bind it and as many of the skinned tomatoes as you like (but not the liquid they have shed- save that for a sauce or a stock or a gazpacho)- tomatoes make up the bulk of our red and juicy pie. Salt and pepper this to taste (the heat of freshly ground black pepper is most welcome).
Moisten the brittle perek sheets with water if you are using them. Brush a baking sheet with some melted butter and lay on it one sheet of perek or lavash, brush that generously with butter, sprinkle with salt, and repeat this with two more sheets. Spread the filling over it, leaving some room at the edges:
Cover with the remaining 3 sheets, brushing butter on each and salting lightly, saving plenty of butter for the top (melt more if you need to- use as much as you like. I found the 100 g to be enough, and I am lavish with butter). Score the pie and put it into the hot oven. 20 minutes should see it golden and crisp. The phyllo is thin and already baked so one needn't have the oven on as long as for a pie made with an uncooked dough- a very great advantage in the heat of summer.
The generous proportion of filling and the juicy tomatoes give the pie the feel of a main dish- we had it as such, but it was also excellent as a snack later on at room temperature, listening to D'Angelo and rereading a 'dessert' book- Paul Bloom's delightful How Pleasure Works. Instant gratification linked all these substantial pleasures.
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