I discovered stuffed tomatoes a long time ago in Paris and fell in love. Perfectly ripe tomatoes, stuffed with meat/sausage and other good stuff makes a great meal! I used a couple of huge tomatoes, which probably could have served 4 people with the addition of a salad:
Stuffed Tomatoes
- 4 medium tomatoes
- 2 links Italian or other sausage, or about ½ pound sausage meat
- ½ cup breadcrumbs
- 1 small onion, minced
- 1 small clove garlic, minced
- Butter
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- Olive oil for greasing the baking pan
Preheat the oven to 300°F/150°C
Slice off the tops of the tomatoes (about ½”) and set aside. Scoop out the centers of the tomatoes and set aside.
Sauté the onion and garlic with 2 teaspoons butter in a medium frying pan over medium high heat. If using link sausage, remove from casing, crumble and add to the onion mix. Cook until the sausage is partially cooked and the onion is soft.
In a medium size bowl, add the contents of the frying pan, the “guts” of the tomatoes, parsley, ¼ cup of breadcrumbs, and the parsley. Mix together.
Stuff the tomatoes, sprinkle the rest of the breadcrumbs on top. Dot with butter and put the caps back on. Bake them in a lightly oiled baking dish for 35 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
My verdict:
A long-time summer favorite! I bought a big basket of tomatoes and there were 2 giant ones that just called out to be stuffed. You can use any kind of sausage you like–this time I had some sweet Italian sausage, but merguez would be fun, or even just some ground lamb or pork (maybe add some spices).
I’ve never done it with cheese, but a little chèvre dotted into them would be good. Like pumpkin stuffed with everything good, this is completely riffable. What would you stuff them with?
