Italian Stuffed Tomatoes

Delicious

WARNING: you will not like this post if you like cooking with a recipe. I promise when I do more formal meals I will write a recipe but during the week I just don't cook like that. I don't shop with a list either just an idea of what I want to cook that week, so sorry guys you're out of luck.

So obviously this week I was feeling inspired by the idea of stuffing things because I bought some crazy big tomatoes at the farm stand this weekend with an intention of stuffing them and some peppers this week. You've seen the peppers now here are the tomatoes:

I cut the very bottom of the tomatoes off (just a little) so they would not roll around and cut the top off in the same way and proceeded to scoop out the inner cell walls and seeds. I set them into a baking dish with a little EVOO at the bottom. I made the filling by sauteing onions and garlic and putting in semi-cooked (pre-al dente) brown rice. I added everything in my fridge that I thought had some Italian flavors (I'm Italian so I'm allowed to make those kinds of decisions): Eggplant tapenade, capers, some of that olive salad, and crushed red pepper flakes. Basil would be good, too, but I didn't have any. I stuffed the tomatoes and baked them at 350 for 30min. I also stuffed an extra pepper I had cause I'm a rebel like that!

I think the stuffing here would be a really good side dish. It was salty spicy and pretty good for a rice dish which I think are often bland. The tomato kind of exploded in the baking process but was really sweet and yummy. I served this to Tom in a vegetable bisque soup from Trader Joe's. Would also be good in their red pepper tomato soup or squash soup or just plain with a salad.

Prep Time: 20min
Cook time: 30min