stuffed tomatoes

We really like stuffing things. Specifically, we like to invent vegetarian pilafs and cram them into hollowed-out produce. This week we made a pseudo-risotto and packed it into tomatoes. These stuffed tomatoes are a delicious, protein-rich main course, and if you have extra stuffing, it's good by itself and in other types of produce (we put it in acorn squash when we ran out of tomatoes).


Ingredients

• 4-6 large tomatoes
• 2 1/2 cups any kind of wild or brown rice mix
  
• 5 mushrooms, finely chopped
  
• 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
  
• 1/3 of a yellow onion, finely chopped
  
• half a can of black beans
• a handful of almonds, finely chopped
  
• dried fruit (we used craisins, prunes, and Turkish apricots), finely chopped
  
• rosemary
• basil
• goat or sheep cheese
  
• a little bit of butter or vegetable oil
  
• salt

Instructions

1. start the rice (water to rice ratio is 2:1)
   
2. saute the onions in butter (or oil) until translucent, add mushrooms and bell pepper, saute
3. in a separate bowl, mix the almonds, rosemary, basil, and dried fruit, then add the beans
4. slice the tops off the tomatoes (like jack-o-lantern lids but less jagged) and hollow out the tomatoes with a spoon. Add the tomato innards to saucepan of mushrooms, onion, and bell pepper, and put the lid on over low heat
   
5. when the rice is ready, add everything together and stir it, it will probably be a bit soupy and risotto-ish because tomatoes guts are wet!
6. add salt to taste
   
7. place the hollowed-out tomatoes onto a baking sheet and stuff the rice pilaf blend into them, alternating with layers of goat or sheep cheese
8. bake the stuffed tomatoes at 375F until their skin starts to peel off and their sides threaten to split
9. garnish as desired (we sprinkled more goat cheese on top) and EAT THEM!

Reflections

This is a pretty flexible recipe. You can use almost any kind of nuts, beans, dried fruit, rice blend, and complimentary vegetables. Fresh basil and rosemary is better than the dried stuff, if it's available. Don't be afraid to sample it as you're making it so that you can decide how much of each type of spice or other ingredients you want to add.