It’s the end of season for quality tomatoes. The best way I know to celebrate this finale is to make Tomatoes Provençale. Tomatoes stuffed with bread crumbs, garlic, and herbs make a wonderful savory dish that can serve as a first course or as a vegetable accompaniment to simple meat or fish dishes. They aren’t difficult to make, can be prepared well advance of baking, and provide a special taste and visual treat for your guests.
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Begin by placing the rack at the top level of your oven, and preheat the oven to 400°.
For Tomatoes Provençale you need medium-sized, red, ripe tomatoes that are not mushy, but firm.
Ripe, firm tomatoes.
Cut the tomatoes in half.
Slice the tomatoes in half.
With a sharp paring knife, remove about 1⁄2 inch of the inner flesh of the tomatoes, being careful not to pierce the skin.
Remove 1/2-inch of flesh.
This produces a small pocket to allow more stuffing in the tomato and also helps produce a tastier sauce. Clean as many of the seeds from the removed flesh as possible, and chop the pulp very finely. Set aside.
Gently squeeze out the juice and seeds into a sieve over a small bowl.
Seed and juice the tomatoes.
Press down on the seeds to extract as much liquid as possible. Set aside the liquid. Many people just discard the liquid, but handled correctly it can add a wonderful touch to your Tomatoes Provençale.
Sprinkle the insides of the tomato halves with salt and pepper.
Press the garlic cloves in a garlic masher.
Mash the garlic.
If you don’t have a garlic masher, mince the garlic as finely as possible and mash it with a heavy object.
Mince the shallot, the parsley, the fresh oregano or basil, and the fresh thyme.
Mince the herbs.
I prefer the fresh oregano because it adds more flavor than basil and goes extremely well with the tomatoes.
In a small bowl, combine the panko crumbs, the mashed garlic, minced shallot, the minced parsley, oregano or basil, thyme, and the pinch of chili peppers.
Combine ingredients.
I don’t find that fine dry bread crumbs work very well with this recipe. They simply don’t provide the necessary crunchy texture. If you don’t have panko crumbs you can substitute coarse, homemade bread crumbs.
Pour 1⁄3 cup of olive oil into the mixture and combine thoroughly.
Mix the ingredients well.
Season with salt and pepper. Taste the final mixture to correct the seasoning to your liking.
Line a baking pan large enough for the 6 or 8 tomato halves with lightly oiled aluminum foil. This will help avoid a messy cleanup after baking.
Put tomatoes on oiled foil.
Spoon the filling equally into the tomato halves, pressing down lightly with the spoon to be certain it’s securely in place. Drizzle a little extra olive oil over the tops of each tomato half.
Spoon the filling into the tomatoes.
Place the tomatoes in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes until the tomatoes are tender but still retain their shape, and the crumb filling is lightly browned.
In the meantime, combine the tomato liquid and the minced tomato pulp in a small sauce pan. Place it over medium heat until the liquid is reduced by half.
Reduce the tomato liquid.
Remove it from the heat, and whisk in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of Sherry vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.
Spoon the liquid into 3 or 4 serving bowls. Place the baked tomatoes on top. Serve the Tomatoes Provençale with a spoon so that diners can scoop up the delicious liquid along with the tomato.
Another possibility is to spoon some of the liquid over the tomatoes. I don’t like to do this because it ruins the texture of the bread-crumb filling. For aesthetic reasons, I like to serve one tomato at a time in a small bowl, but that’s a personal preference.
