Stuffed tomatoes, from Sharefrenchdinner.com
Stuffed tomatoes is a friendly dish that is quick and easy to prepare. It is typical of family weekends in France, which come in many ways. The traditional stuffed tomato is garnished with leftover meat from the day before (stew, roast, poultry, etc.). They belong to the "Farcis": specialties of Mediterranean cuisine based on stuffed and baked vegetables.
What are the secrets to making the best stuffed tomatoes?
Stuffed tomatoes are quick and easy to make, but in order for your dish to be tasty, you need to select the right ingredients:
What variety of tomato for stuffed tomatoes?
In the summer, you can buy superb tomatoes in the local markets, especially the heirloom and plump varieties. In addition, the tomatoes are much sweeter in this season.
Marmande tomato (ferline) as well as beef heart tomato are varieties of tomatoes that are popular in France. They are ideal for stuffed tomatoes, as they are usually quite large, fleshy, and dig easily. If you can't find a beef heart tomato, you can also use the pineapple tomato. It is a variety that also has a fruity flavor, at least during the season. She also has a nice texture of yellow, orange and red flesh.
With what can we stuff the tomatoes?
As you can imagine, stuffed tomatoes need a stuffing, and therefore a garnish. A stuffing often consists of beef, or veal, or even chicken. Sometimes two different meats are mixed, for example a leftover roast, very finely chopped together with egg white. Of course, there are also stuffings with fish, or vegetables and herbs, for vegetarians. In the traditional recipe, it is a meat-based stuffing.
Where to find the stuffing for stuffed tomatoes?
Ideally, you can buy ready-made stuffing from the butcher, or the butcher, who often garnish it with parsley, chives and garlic. Otherwise, you can also take the sausage meat which is a simpler preparation and it is already seasoned. The meat is mainly pork.
How to prepare a homemade stuffing?
In fact, for a really tasty garnish, you have to make it yourself or improve the one you bought ready-made. You can, for example, add onions, garlic, fresh herbs like tarragon and / or thyme (sometimes I add a little chopped flat-leaf parsley). And of course a pinch of Espelette Pepper (a slightly sweet chili powder from the Basque Country).
Regarding the choice of meats, you can make mixtures that you like. Just be sure to add an egg to the mixture for the ground beef and breadcrumbs, as you probably do for your meatballs.
Where does the stuffed tomato come from?
The French like to claim that the stuffed tomatoes come from the French Mediterranean basin, even though, in some stories, the stuffed tomatoes would have been invented in Grace.
However, like many dishes, the stuffed tomatoes were made by families to use leftover meats from previous meals.
Since then, many chefs and authors, such as:
- Grimod de la Reynière in 1803-1812 wrote a first recipe based on sausage meat,
- And nowadays, Andrée Maureau (author of “Recettes en Provence”, Paul Bocuse and Philippe Etchebest, great French chefs… have popularized this dish with the good taste of Provence and imagined many variations.
Today, the dish of stuffed tomatoes is a symbol of the cuisine of the south of France because of the use of tomatoes.
The recipe for stuffed tomatoes
The ingredients for 4 people :
- 4 large beef heart tomatoes,
- 800 g sausage meat / stuffing / beef (see tip / tip above)
- 1 sprig of tarragon and thyme (or both)
- 1 medium onion
- 3 cloves of garlic
- Espelette pepper,
- 1 vegetable / meat stock cube
- Freshly ground pepper
- Salt
- A teaspoon of sweet paprika
- Olive oil
- Butter to grease the baking dish
The preparation :
- Step 1: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees in hot air mode.
- Step 2: Cut the onions into small pieces and chop the garlic.