Visiting Italy?Grandma’s stuffed tomatoes are a must on our summer tables.
In Liguria, the tomato par excellence are “cuore di bue” tomatoes, a tomato that has the shape of a beef heart. They are cultivated in all the vertical gardens of the Riviera and, intensively, in the Albenga plain.
The ones I used to make the recipe of stuffed tomatoes that you see here were not “cuore di bue” (which are portrayed in the photos below, for the sake of knowledge and for my love for Liguria 🙂 ) but round cluster tomatoes from the nearby garden, mature, soft, fragrant and therefore irresistible. You’ll forgive my culinary license.
In Italy the recipe of tomato stuffed usually provides for a stuffing made with rice.
Here in Liguria, on the other hand, we fill the tomatoes with bread soaked in milk, a whole other story. You’ll see that goodness!
Remember, it is important to drain very well tomatoes before filling them and cook them long and slowly in the oven.
Then, if you like baked vegetables you can also try to cook my Ligurian stuffed vegetables or my stuffed zucchini flowers.
Have fun!
Ligurian baked stuffed tomatoes
Ingredients
- 10 tomatoes (about 1,3 lb) of medium, ripe and firm tomatoes.
- 2 medium-sized white onions (ab. 7 oz), finely chopped
- 20 g (0,7 z) unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to grease
- 70 g (1,7 oz) of bruschetta bread
- ½ cup of milk
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 4 tablespoons packed grated Parmesan cheese
- 3 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
- 5 salted anchovy fillets, clean (optional)
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1 cup of breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Wash the tomatoes and with a sharp knife cut the upper cap with the stalk. Set aside the cap and dig the tomatoes removing seeds and pulp. Sprinkle with a little salt and put upside down on a cutting board to release some water.
- Brown the chopped onion in a pan with butter and oil over low heat for 10 minutes or until translucent.
- Remove the crust from the bread slices and soak the bread sponge in milk.
- Prepare the stuffing by combining in a bowl the well squeezed breadcrumbs, eggs, Parmesan cheese, chopped parsley and stewed onion. Season to taste with salt (they must be tasty) and pepper.
- Preheat the oven at 200°C (400°F) and grease a pan or line with parchment paper.
- Rub a piece of bread inside the tomatoes to remove the salt and dry them completely. Then fill them with the stuffing and place them side by side in the pan. Put on top of each tomato half salted anchovy fillet and cover with the cap like a lid.
- Sprinkle with plenty of breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt.
- Bake in the oven for about 1 hour. Let them cool and serve warm or at room temperature. The next day they are always tastier.
