Newsletter Recipe: Baked Stuffed Fresh Tomatoes

From our September 2012 E-Newsletter

A perfectly delicious way to enjoy your biggest, juiciest, sun-kissed garden beauties as a main course; just toss a simple green salad to join them. I always make a full recipe even if serving just a few friends, because the stuffed tomatoes are equally good for lunch or dinner the next day, heated up in the microwave.

9 to 10 large ripe tomatoes
1 pound mild (sweet) Italian sausage
3/4 cup uncooked Arborio or long grain rice
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chopped fresh basil
3/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
3/4 cup freshly grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Slice tops off tomatoes and set aside. Carve out the inside of the tomatoes, leaving the shell intact. Coarsely chop the tomato pulp. Drain, reserving the juices separately. Put the pulp in a bowl and set the pulp and juices aside.

Remove the casings from the sausage and crumble the sausage into a deep skillet. Sauté over medium heat, stirring to break up the meat until it loses all its pink color and fat is rendered. Drain and discard fat.

Combine the chopped tomato pulp, uncooked rice, garlic, basil, parsley, cheese, cooked crumbled sausage, and add the salt and freshly ground pepper.

Liberally oil a 9 x 12-inch ovenproof baking pan with 2 tablespoons of the oil and place the tomato shells in it, open side up. Stuff each tomato with the tomato mixture and then replace their reserved tops. Pour over the reserved tomato juice and dribble the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil over the tops.

Bake for about 60 minutes or until rice is just tender and tops of tomatoes are nicely browned. Cool in pan, and serve while still warm.

Serves 9-10 

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