Provençale stuffed tomatoes

Ingredients

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

Method

The garlicky green crumbs soufflé as they cook, filling the air with delicious summery smells. Serve hot or cold with cauliflower cheese, lamb chops or roast chicken.

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.