I had some friends coming around for lunch on Thursday and I realised that I didn't have anything to give them for lunch. I set my husband to putting the children to bed so I could pop to Waitrose. I don't normally get to my local Waitrose of an evening but I was really surprised at the prices they were reducing some of the food too. I bought 8 packs of pork mince which were only 29p each (now I am looking for recipes of pork mince everywhere but still), cheese reduced from £1.69 per 100g to 22p, a really lovely mature cheddar and a smelly Irish cheese and all the wonderful bread was 75% off. All in all a bargain and I will be trying to go to Waitrose in the week more often to get those bargains. Tonight I plan to make "Stuffed Tomatoes". This recipe is from Raymond Blanc's recent BBC TV series and it is wonderful because I have tried it once before. I bought the tomatoes in Reading market (last time I bought them in Waitrose the tomatoes alone cost over £4) and only cost £2 for too any even to use in this recipe. I have included the link to the original recipe too. Try it is worth the little bit more effort and it isn't that much effort either.
IngredientsFor the tomato sauce
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
45g/3 tbsp olive oil
30g/2 tbsp tomato puree
12 Roma tomatoes, (*1) ripe, seeded and chopped
4 pinches salt
2 pinches pepper, black, freshly ground
3 pinches sugar (optional)
3 leaves of fresh basil
For the stuffed tomatoes
4 x 200g each Marmande or beef tomatoes, top removed and flesh scooped out
For the stuffing
200g pork mince
60g fresh breadcrumbs
1 egg yolk
20g banana shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
20g flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 sprig tarragon, leaves picked and roughly chopped
15ml/1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
60g Comté cheese, grated
Method
For the tomato sauce
On a medium heat, in a medium saucepan (16cm) soften the onion for 3 1 minutes in the olive oil without letting it colour.
Add the tomato puree and cook for one minute before adding the chopped 2 tomatoes and seasoning.
Cook on medium heat for a further 20 minutes. Taste, correct seasoning 3 and add sugar if necessary.
Pass the sauce through a moulin and reserve.4
Preparing the tomatoes
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Slice 1/3 off the top of the tomatoes to make a 1 hat. With a spoon, scoop out the pulp and juices of the tomatoes into a bowl. Make sure you don’t remove too much of the inside of the tomato as this will weaken the wall and the tomato may split during cooking.
In a large bowl mix together all the stuffing ingredients apart from the 2 cheese, divide the stuffing equally between the tomatoes; top with the grated cheese and place the lid back on top of the tomato.
Place them in a baking dish, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and cook in the 3 preheated oven to cook for 25 minutes.
To serve
Reheat the tomato sauce and pour into the baking dish around the stuffed 1 tomatoes, or you can serve directly onto individual plates and place a stuffed tomato on top.
Serves (Yield): 4
Difficulty rating: •
Preparation time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 40 mins
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:
Mouli
VARIATIONS
Try this recipe with vegetable risotto (see recipe 33) cooked three quarters of the way through and bake as above.
Tomato Theme
This complex dish from Le Manoir is made up of five separately simple elements, which can be served in their own right as a home-style dish.
This tomato theme was born from me enjoying Maman Blanc’s tomato salad as a boy and moping up the juices around the plate. That was the essence of the tomato, this dish is the ultimate tomato experience.
Kitchen Secrets
r e c i p e s
35
RECIPE
EPISODE 8
http://www.raymondblanc.com/Portals/14/docs/34%20Stuffed%20Tomatoes.pdf
