Twice Baked Tomatoes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Slice the very ends off of the tomatoes and cut crosswise into 4 pieces. Arrange on small baking sheet and brush both sides with olive oil. Salt and pepper each side as well.

Put on middle rack of oven and bake for 8 minutes. Take out and spread about 1 teaspoon of pesto on top of tomato and top with about 1 teaspoon of the grated cheese.

Return to oven for 2 1/2 more minutes. Remove and serve.

cook's notes

I was hungry for bruschetta and didn't have any good bread. So I decided to use tomatoes as my canvas. Baking them just once with all the fixings obviously wouldn't work because the cheese would burn, and the tomatoes would not get soft enough.

Doing it in two steps worked like a charm. I used it as a side dish but it also works great for an appetizer. Depending on the size of your tomatoes, times and amounts will vary. The times I have work only for the Roma type tomatoes.