Julia Child would turn 100 this August, and to celebrate, many bloggers are participating in JC100 (Julia Child at 100) and replicating some of her famous recipes.
I was excited to be asked to join, and I have been waiting patiently for a recipe that was not heavily dairy dependent. This week, the chosen recipe was Provencal Tomatoes. Considering I had just picked some gorgeous tomatoes from our garden and that the recipe could easily be altered to eliminate the scant amount of Parmesan cheese required, I set to work in the kitchen.
Julia Child is obviously a much smarter woman than me because her recipe calls for 3 large tomatoes, but I knew she would probably appreciate my resourcefulness of using what I already had on hand, plenty of cherry tomatoes fresh from the garden.
The end result was adorable, tasty little tomatoes that my kids and my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed. These make a great side dish to a grilled meal or a fish meal.
Julia’s Stuffed Tomatoes Provencal
3 large, firm, ripe tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
For the stuffing
1 to 1.5 cups fresh bread crumbs
2 tbsp minced shallots
1 tsp. dried herbes de Provence
3 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese (we omitted this)
2 to 3 tbsp chopped parsley
3 to 4 tbsp olive oil
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Cut the tomatoes in half and clean the cavities of any seeds.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Stir together all stuffing ingredients except the olive oil. Gently toss in the olive oil and stir until all of the crumb mixture is moistened.
Spoon the stuffing into each half, mounding on the top and drizzling with a scant 1/2 tsp. of olive oil.
Bake for approximately 20 minutes, until the topping is lightly browned but the tomato retains its shape and texture.
Enjoy!
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