Photo: Sausage-and-Basil-Stuffed Tomatoes Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 medium tomatoes, preferably with stems intact
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- 3/4 pound luganega or sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
- 1 small green bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 large onion, diced
- 1 stalk celery, diced, plus a handful of celery leaves
- 1 small clove garlic, minced
- 2 cups bread cubes (from about 1/2 baguette)
- 1 cup fresh basil
- 1/2 cup walnut pieces
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Using a serrated knife, slice off the top quarter of each tomato and reserve the tops. Scoop out the pulp from inside each tomato and transfer it to a food processor. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and the cayenne to the food processor and process until smooth; pour into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage, herbes de Provence, bell pepper, onion, diced celery and garlic. Cook, stirring, until the sausage browns, about 5 minutes. Transfer the sausage mixture and bread cubes to the food processor and pulse until chopped. Pack the tomatoes with the sausage-bread mixture so the stuffing is domed on top. Put the stuffed tomatoes in the baking dish on top of the sauce.
Place the basil, walnuts, cheese and celery leaves in the food processor and chop. Sprinkle onto the tomatoes. Put the tomato tops, cut-side down, between the stuffed tomatoes. Bake until the stuffing is golden, about 20 minutes. Cover each tomato with a top and serve with the sauce.
Photograph by Kana Okada
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By LaLaNoir1982
MD, USA
on June 17, 2013
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Pretty good recipe. I agree with the other reviewers, in that it is a bit more labor intensive than I planned, but now that I know what to do, I can prepare in advance. I also modified the recipe, in that I added mushrooms, and lots of sweet peppers to the mixture, as well as a bit of the sauce. Into the sauce, I added some chili pepper hot sauce as well. I am trying to cut my salt intake, so it didn't feel the need to add salt. (The cheese was salty enough for me. Speaking of cheese, I had some grated pecorino romano left over in the fridge, so I used that instead. And I didn't' put the hot sausage mixture in the food processor bc I didn't want to ruin it, or clean it. Still turned out amazing. Very tasty. I think next time I will not cook the tomatoes as long, I will simply brown the bread crumb mixture. The tomatoes were a little too soft and fell apart. I also saw that using different colored heirloom tomatoes produced different tastes. I highly recommend this recipe.
By Chasing_Savory
Richmond, VA
on October 09, 2012
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A bit labor intensive; not a dinner to make in a hurry after working all day....BUT, well worth it. I also added a bit of salt and pepper to the stuffing. I think the "sauce" was there for steam flavoring or something; not sure. I paired this with the ROASTED GARLIC CROSTINIS (October issue/Food Network mag and it was a big hit. I loved the topping, really helped to flavor the stuffing. The trick I saw was not to "crumb" the baguette bread but to "dice small" - made it more "stuffiny".
By kindlearcher
on September 24, 2012
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I really loved this recipe, but I amended it with some things it REALLY needed. I added salt and pepper to the stuffing while I was cooking it. Also, before I stuffed the tomatoes I added a pinch of sugar and 1/4 a package of cream cheese. I have to say, the sauce was flavorless and, as far as I could tell, pointless. Not necessary, unless to keep the tomatoes moist.
After my changes, it was awesome!
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