Stuffed Tomatoes

You know summer is here when the first tomatoes appear at the farmer's market. There are beautiful large heirloom tomatoes, and my favorites, the small dry farmed ones. I eat them every day, for lunch, dinner, and snack. Sometimes I just eat them plain. I have made my stuffed tomato recipe for years. They are  fabulous with rack of lamb. ​​

A recipe that I've made for years are my stuffed tomatoes. They are fabulous with rack of lamb.  You can use large tomatoes but I have also used smaller ones. I often vary the recipe by adding different herbs or vary the amount of zucchini or mushrooms, increase the amount of parmesan.  If you you don't add the cheese you have a lovely vegan dish vegan dish. Bake any leftover stuffing in a greased gratin dish sprinkled with parmesan.  ​

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Ingredients:

This recipe makes 6 generous servings

6 large tomatoes
3 small zucchinis ( yellow and green) 
2 cups or less  chopped button or shiitake mushrooms
3 TBS olive oil
½ cup finally chopped shallots 
½ cup grated  parmesan cheese  
½ to 1 tsp salt
½ to 1 tsp  pepper
1tsp italian seasoning or other herbs like thyme

Directions:

Cut the top off the to tomatoes. Scoop out most of the inside of the tomato, sprinkle with salt and drain upside down. Save the juice from the tomatoes and the pulp, but not the seeds. Chop the pulp if necessary. Peel the zucchinis, grate them in a food processor, sprinkle with salt and drain them in a sieve for about 30 minutes.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, add shallots and sauté until the shallots are soft and lightly colored. Add the mushrooms and sauté everything for several minutes. Add the salt and pepper. Add the grated zucchini, the tomato pulp and juice and sauté three to five minutes.

Put everything in a large sieve and drain until it has cooled. Preserve the drained juice. Put the zucchini mixture into a bowl, add the parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper.

Scoop the sauté mixture into the tomatoes, sprinkle with some extra Parmesan and put the top on the tomatoes. Pour enough juice from the sauté into an oiled gratin dish to cover the bottom, add the stuffed tomatoes and bake in a preheated oven at 375 F for 20 to 30 minutes. 

Fill the tomatoes completely, but if you have some stuffing left, put it in a small, well-greased gratin dish and bake for 15 minutes.

Guten Appetit
​recipe ©Sunnycovechef