Provençale stuffed tomatoes

Provencale stuffed tomatoes

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

• 3 thick slices stale white bread
• 25g/1oz curly parsley leaves
• 6 black olives
• 2 garlic cloves
• 50g/2oz butter
• 6 medium or 4 large tomatoes

Method

• Heat the oven to 325F/170C/gas mark 3. Remove the crusts from the bread, tear into pieces and blitz to make approx 75g/3oz crumbs. Add the parsley leaves and blitz again to chop and mix. Put crumbs in a bowl.
• Chop the olives into small pieces. Peel, chop and crush the garlic with a pinch of salt to make a juicy paste. Melt the butter in a small pan and stir in the garlic. Add the olives to the crumbs and stir in the garlic butter.
• Halve the tomatoes round their middles, scrape out the seeds to make a cavity (I do this over a sieve in a bowl then press to catch the juice for vinaigrette and soup). Spoon the filling into the cavities, pressing lightly with the back of the spoon. Bake in an ovenproof dish for 1 hour until puffed and golden.

Please note the image above is for illustrative purposes only, and is not an original photograph of the dish described.

This recipe was first published in the February 2008 edition of Saga Magazine.

Lindsey Bareham's website is: www.lindseybareham.com