Stuffed Pizza Tomatoes

As we’ve written in the past, Bryan and I like to cook together – we’ve been each other’s sous chefs and we have split meal duties. The other night, we were able to be in the kitchen together after what seems like a long few months of work, events, travel and losses in our family.

We have an abundance of late summer produce in the house – tomatoes, zucchini and corn on the cob – so we decided we’d cook vegetarian. A challenge in our household though is to use tomatoes in a way so Bryan will eat them. I love tomatoes – diced, sliced, pureed – I’ll eat them. Bryan, on the other hand, will not. His preferred way to eat them is in a caprese salad, which is a favorite of mine as well, but it is good to mix things up a bit.

I proposed stuffed tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and Bryan suggested some onion, I chose a few other ingredients to mix in as well:

• 2 medium to large ripe yet firm tomatoes
• 1/4 C. diced fresh mozzarella
• 1/4 C. diced sweet onion
• 1 T. chopped fresh basil
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Magic Seasoning Blends – Pizza & Pasta Magic Hot & Sweet
• kosher salt
• Parmesan to grate
• extra virgin olive oil

What I did:

1. Preheated our oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cored the tomatoes similar to how one prepares a pumpkin for carving.
3. Scooped out some of the tomato pulp with a large spoon. I was careful to not break the outside of the tomato skin.
4. Prepped the mozzarella, onion, garlic and basil and mixed in a small bowl.
5. Sprinkled mixture with kosher salt and a heavy dose of the Pizza & Pasta Magic spice.
6. Stuffed the tomatoes with the mixture.
7. Placed them in a glass dish and drizzled extra virgin olive oil on the outside of the tomato and over the top of the mixture.
8. Placed dish in the oven and baked for 15 minutes.
9. Topped the tomatoes with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and served.

The verdict: these tomatoes were delicious and devoured. As Bryan put it, they tasted like pizza. We will make these again and I may try using block mozzarella instead to get more melty cheese and bake them for 15 minutes and broil them for 3-5 minutes to get the tops of the tomatoes and cheese mixture bubbly.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Bake time: 15 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes

Related posts:

1. Homemade pizza
2. Cherry Tomato Pizza Margherita – Recipe Review
3. Open-Face Pizza
4. Grilled pizza perfection
5. Stuffed peppers that go to 11