Stuffed tomatoes

I saw this recipe and thought wow: http://racheleats.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/best-to-wait/ despite it being a rather lengthy process I vowed to do it. Within days of Rachel posting her recipe, another one popped up: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2013/08/rice-stuffed-tomatoes/ and it looked a lot less time-consuming. So I ended up making a kind of hybrid of the two, and it worked brilliantly.

Allow 2 tomatoes per person.

Ingredients

4 large, ripe tomatoes

4 dessert spoons arborio rice (75g)

3 tbsp (45ml) olive oil

handful of parsley

sprig of thyme

handful of basil leaves

clove of garlic

salt & pepper

Directions

  1. Cut the tops off the tomatoes and, using a teaspoon, remove the insides.
  2. Salt the shells of the tomatoes and turn them upside down on a clean tea towel.
  3. Put the tomato insides into a blender along with the herbs and garlic. Blitz until quite fine.
  4. Combine the tomato mixture with the rice and olive oil, season generously, and leave somewhere for about an hour to rest.
  5. Pre-heat your oven to gas 4/350F and grease a baking dish.
  6. Spoon the tomato & rice mixture into the tomato shells and place them in the greased dish with their lids on. You might have some filling left over; I popped mine in a ramekin to bake separately.
  7. Bake for 45 mins, until the tomatoes are cooked and soft.
  8. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for minimum 30mins.

This recipe tastes even better made with vegetables from Community Harvest Whetstone :)

Stuffed tomatoes in bowls