Stuffed Tomatoes

I'm a little behind on my blog postings, but I've been cooking up a storm ever since I finished my Masters paper. (Yay me!)... Anyway, here is the first of many blog postings for today/this week.

I had hit up a local farmers' market and bought a whole bunch of local produce, including way too many tomatoes. So, I needed a way to use them up fast. I thought of stuffed tomatoes, which my mom used to make all the time. I googled a few recipes and didn't find one I was happy with, so I winged it and came up with this one.

Ingredients:

4 large tomatoes

1 onion, sliced into half-rings

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1/2 can black beans

1 cup bread crumbs

1 tsbp fresh basil, chopped

1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped

olive oil

salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees C.
2. Saute the onions and garlic in 1 tbsp olive oil on low-to-medium heat until very soft.
3. Meanwhile, cut top 1 inch off of tomatoes and scoop out the insides. Dice the tops and set aside.
4. Grease 4 oven-proof ramekins with some olive oil. Place tomatoes open-side up in the ramekins.
5. Add black beans to onions and garlic with some salt and pepper. Heat for about 5 minutes.
6. Stir in basil, thyme, and 2/3 cup bread crumbs. Add a bit of olive oil and stir until combined. (The breadcrumbs should bind the ingredients together a bit).
7. Fill each tomato with the stuffing and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
8. Season with salt and pepper.
9. Bake for about 20 minutes or until tomatoes are heated through and breadcrumbs are browned and crispy.

This recipe turned out really well. Though I ate a few of these on their own, they'd make a great side dish to some grilled chicken or even chicken parm.