Tuscan Baked Tomatoes with Egidiana
These baked, stuffed tomatoes are best made with late-summer plum tomatoes. If you buy your tomatoes in the store, it’s a good idea to keep them on a sunny windowsill until they are perfectly ripe. For the stuffing, any stale, white bread (let it sit out overnight, if necessary) will do.
Tuscan Baked Tomatoes
Serves 4
1 1/4 cups chopped flat-leaf parsley
3 small cloves garlic, finely chopped
Pinch of red-pepper flakes
3/4 cup bread crumbs
10 plum tomatoes (about 1 1/4 pounds total), cut in half lengthwise
1/4 cup olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1. Heat oven to 400°. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the parsley, garlic, red-pepper flakes, and bread crumbs. Pulse until bread-crumb mixture is combined.
2. Remove all of the seeds and juice from the tomatoes. Using a spoon, fill the remaining tomato flesh with the bread-crumb mixture. Place the stuffed tomatoes in a shallow baking dish.
3. Drizzle tomatoes with oil; season with salt and pepper. Add 1/2 cup water to bottom of baking dish. Cover dish tightly with foil.
4. Bake tomatoes until they are tender and the stuffing has cooked through, about 45 minutes.
5. Heat broiler. Remove baking dish from oven; remove aluminum foil. Broil until crisp and slightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve.
SPECIAL THANKS
Egidiana Maccioni
Co-owner
Le Cirque 2000
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