Here’s another recipe from La Zucca Magica, an Italian vegetarian restaurant in Nice. We had another version of this stuffed tomato when we ate there last month that was equally as delicious and had curry in it. I couldn’t find that recipe online and don’t think I’d do a good job of recreating it either.
I found this recipe from the restaurant on the New York Times site. I used four very large tomatoes but still had too much stuffing left over, which wasn’t a bad thing. It was great to eat all by itself outside the tomato too.
This was a great second course in a three course dinner I recently served that included a first course of cantaloupe gazpacho with crispy prosciutto and a third course of chard stuffed with risotto and mozzarella.
Mangia! Or should I say Bon Appetit!
Tomatoes Stuffed with Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 4 large tomatoes
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 yellow pepper, minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, more for baking dish
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 pound spaghetti
- 3 tablespoons small black olives (nicoise), pitted and chopped
- 1 tablespoon capers, preferably salt-packed (rinsed with warm water)
- 12 basil leaves, chopped
- 2 or 3 marjoram or oregano leaves, or a pinch of dried
- 1/2 pound fresh mozzarella cheese, chopped
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove top third of each tomato.
- Step 2 Scoop out some flesh and chop it, along with the top third. Salt inside of tomatoes and turn them upside down while you proceed.
- Step 3 Cook yellow pepper in a tablespoon of oil with half the garlic, until soft. Break spaghetti into little bits and cook in salted boiling water just until tender. Drain and rinse in cold water.
- Step 4 Mix together the chopped tomato, cooked pepper, spaghetti and all other ingredients except mozzarella.
- Step 5 Stuff tomatoes, first with cheese, then with tomato mixture.
- Step 6 Put in an oiled baking dish and bake for about 15 minutes, or until hot. Serve hot or warm.
