Tomatoes Provencal
Tomatoes Provencal are the perfect summer side dish! Ripe tomatoes stuffed with herby, savory Provencal breadcrumb topping, then baked until crispy.
Servings: 4
Calories: 309kcal
Ingredients
- 4 large tomatoes
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 small shallot
- 1 ½ cups fresh breadcrumbs
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
- ½ teaspoon herbes de provence
- 3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 200 degrees Celsius.
- Core tomatoes, and slice in half horizontally. Standing over a sink, use your fingers to remove the seeds from the tomatoes.
- Then place tomato halves skin-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. If your tomatoes are at all pointy on the end, slice off the point so that the tomatoes are stable. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt and pepper.
- Now, finely chop the garlic cloves and shallot. You should end up with about 1 tablespoon of finely chopped garlic and 2 tablespoons of finely chopped shallots.
- In a large bowl, stir together breadcrumbs, garlic, shallots, parsley, herbes de provence, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and olive oil.
- When mixture is well incorporated, use your fingers to scoop out breadcrumbs and press onto each tomato half, filling the holes left by the removed seeds.
- Bake for 20 minutes, until topping is golden brown but tomatoes have not lost their shape.
Notes
- To make fresh breadcrumbs, put 3-4 slices of bread into a food processor and process until crumbs are just a bit chunky. Those little chunks of bigger breadcrumbs become super tasty when baked—much better than traditional fine packaged breadcrumbs. Bread that is slightly stale is the best to use since it’s easier to blend. This is also a great solution for a leftover half baguette!
- Ingredient substitutions for herbs: I like chopped fresh parsley in this dish, but you could replace it with other fresh herbs like thyme or chives or even rosemary. Parsley is more mild than most other herbs, so if you use something else, you may want to dial back the amount a little. Or use a combination of other herbs together. Herbes de Provence blends often include rosemary, thyme, oregano, savory, marjoram, and sometimes lavender, so feel free to replace with one or more of the herbs that are usually included in the spice blend.
- For a vegan version of this recipe, leave out the parmesan cheese (or replace it with a vegan version) and make sure to use breadcrumbs made from bread that does not include eggs.
- This dish is really best eaten the same day you make it. You can refrigerate leftovers for a couple of days, but as soon as they have been in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, the topping will start to absorb water and soften. When you’re ready to eat, I highly recommend reheating in the oven instead of the microwave to bring back some of the crunch. As for freezing, I don’t recommend that at all. Tomatoes just don’t take well to freezing and defrosting, and you’ll have a similar issue with the topping becoming soggy.
Nutrition
Calories: 309kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 3mg | Sodium: 666mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 8g
