Catching Stuffed Tomato Fever TWiCE

A few Saturdays back whilst in the middle of the June Daring Bakers Challenge (post coming this Saturday), I had some down time and was hankering for something delicious yet light for lunch. Scrolling through my Foodbuzz recipe favs I found Stacey Snacks Stuffed Tomatoes with Ricotta. I immediately was inspired and I began hollowing out tomato halves with vigor! Before I share my tomato indulgence, I want to shout out my fellow Foodbuzzers who also caught the craving for stuffing and roasting tomatoes : Meatless Mamas Stuffed Tomatoes and Stumptown Savoury's Ricotta-Stuffed Tomatoes.

Each and every one of the linked recipes are great to try, so give them a look. Here is my version.

Ingredients (pic below):
2 Vine Ripe Tomatoes, cut in half and hollowed out
Italian Blend Cheese
Gorgonzola Cheese
Chopped flat leaf parsley
Crushed crackers
Italian Breadcrumbs
Chopped Sweet Onion
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
Dry Thyme
Celery Seed
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I eyeballed the stuffing mixture which you will see in the image below, so sorry kids! No exact measurements for this one. Truthfully, next time absolutely no breadcrumbs! They soaked up too much moisture away from the cheeses. Also, I love these cheese flavors but will break them down more with some heat before stuffing and roasting the tomatoes. My peers all used ricotta, a soft cheese, which melts so much easier.


After brushing the tomato halves with olive oil and sprinkling them with sea salt, I stuffed them, sprinkled crushed crackers on top, and roasted them in the oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

Stuffed and Ready for Roasting

Roasty Toasty Tomatoes

Once they were all done and roasty toasty I could only eat two halves, or one tomato because they were so filling. I wrapped up the other two halves because wasting food is simply something I am not able to do. The very next day for dinner, the tomato fever began boiling again. However salvaging the tomatoes in their original roasted state was not probable, so I made something up off the top of my head instead.

In my freezer I had just enough frozen cheese tortellini for one serving. I boiled those up and in a separate pan over medium heat I heated some olive oil and threw in some chopped onions and crushed fresh garlic with red pepper flakes. As they cooked, I crudely chopped up my roasted stuffed tomatoes halves and began cooking those pieces in the same pan. I hit the whole thing up with white cooking wine and salt. Let it cook down for a few minutes then I tossed the cooked tortellini with the tomato-mixture saute, topped it off with fresh parsley and Parmesan-reggiano cheese, and WOW, this dish packed a freshness punch of flavor and ultimate hunger fulfillment. I was so engrossed in eating this that I only had time to snap a pic on my iPhone before it was completely gone.

Second Life of Stuffed Tomatoes