More Appetizers....

This year I am making stuffed tomatoes as part of the first course. My grandma Alda would make stuffed tomatoes sometimes as the vegetable part of our meal and I always would wish that there would be leftovers so I could have one for lunch the next day. Hers were filled with grandma love along with lots of oil!! I cut down on the oil in my recipe a little to make the stuffing lighter and give it more a tomato taste. Here is my recipe for stuffed tomatoes.

Recipe yields 4 tomatoes:

4 vine ripe tomatoes (they should be the size of a tennis ball), washed with the core taken out
1 1/2 cups plain breadcrumbs
1/2 grated Romano cheese
1 clove of garlic
2 teaspoons of fresh Italian flat leaf parsley
salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 cup olive oil plus, 2 tablespoons to cook

Preheat oven to 35o degrees

Cut the tops off the tomato, set aside and using a spoon scoop the inside out and place in a bowl. Salt and pepper the inside of each tomato to prep for stuffing. In a mixing bowl, mix breadcrumbs, cheese, parsley, zest, and using a grater, grate garlic directly over bowl. Mix ingredients and season with salt and pepper. Add oil and then add 1/2 cup of the reserved tomato and mix the stuffing. It should be slightly wet and stick together, but not soaked. With the tomato tops, dice these real fine and add to the stuffing. Be sure to taste the stuffing before you begin to stuff the tomatoes and adjust seasoning as necessary. Stuff each tomato using a teaspoon and place in a baking dish. Drizzle each tomato with olive oil and cover baking dish with tin foil. Bake covered for 45 minutes and then uncover for the last 15 minutes. The tops should be golden and the tomato should be fork tender (put a cake tester right through the middle of one tomato, to see if it is tender). These are delicious served right out o the oven or at room temp, they are even good right from the fridge, you decide. Enjoy!