Baked Stuffed Summer Tomatoes

Course: Side

Cuisine: American, Vegetarian

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 15

Total Time: 30

Servings: people

Calories: 221kcal

Author: Kris Longwell

Baked Stuffed Summer Tomatoes are the stuff summer dreams are made of. You can prepare these up to a day in advance and then bake them as directed in the recipe.

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Ingredients

Cooking spray
4 large tomatoes
1½ cups breadcrumbs fresh, pulsed in food processor
½ cup scallions finely chopped, white and green parts
¼ cup basil fresh, chopped
2 tablespoon parsley fresh, chopped
1 tablespoon thyme fresh, chopped
2 cloves cloves minced
1 teaspoon Kosher salt plus extra for seasoning tomatoes
Freshly ground black pepper
½ cup Gruyere cheese grated
2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a baking dish (9"x9" or 9"x13") with cooking spray.
Cooking spray
Cut the cores from the tomatoes and then slice them in half, horizontally. Remove the seeds and some of the cavity of the tomato halves with a small knife.
4 large tomatoes
In a bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, scallions, basil, parsley, thyme, garlic, and 1 teaspoon of Kosher salt.
1½ cups breadcrumbs, ½ cup scallions, ¼ cup basil, 2 tbsp parsley, 1 tbsp thyme, 2 cloves cloves, 1 tsp Kosher salt
Generously sprinkle the tomato halves with salt and pepper.
Freshly ground black pepper
Mound the tomato cavities with the bread crumb mixture. Use a spatula to transfer the stuffed tomatoes to the prepared baking dish.
Bake the tomatoes for 15 minutes. Remove the tomatoes from the oven and sprinkle with the cheese. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for another 2 to 5 minutes, or until cheese has just melted.
½ cup Gruyere cheese, 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Serve warm or at room temperature.

Video

Notes

NOTE: Watch the video in the recipe card for visual guidance.

We like using large 'slicer' tomatoes for this dish, but you could also go with Roma tomatoes, or whatever are the freshest and tastiest available to you. Depending on the size of the tomatoes, you may need to increase the quantity.

For the breadcrumbs, we take an Italian loaf or French loaf of bread and use a serrated knife to remove the crust. We tear the bread into pieces and add it to our food processor and pulse until we've got coarse bread crumbs. No need to let the bread dry out. The roasting process will make them perfectly toasted and just right.

For the herbs, you can use dried thyme (1 tsp), but we definitely recommend using fresh basil. You'll lose the wonderful garden-fresh taste with dried basil. But, in a pinch, you could use 2 tablespoon of dried in place of the fresh (but go with fresh!).

Shredded Fontina, Swiss, mozzarella, or Monterey Jack are all suitable substitutes for the Gruyere.

The dish can be prepared up to several hours before baking, or even a day in advance.

The stuffed tomatoes are wonderful served warm right out of the oven, or at room temperature.

Nutrition