Stuffed Tomatoes - Open Sesame II

Stuffed Tomatoes with herbed bread and olives


Finally managed to make the post on the last day of the event. By now I guess everyone would be familiar with what 'Open Sesame' is. Otherwise click here.
The answer to my riddle was 'Tomatoes' - the king of vegetables. With its cute crown it actually is a king right? My Riddle goes like this -




I think I am a pleased woman since I blush so much
I am so soft and shiny to your delicate touch
But look what I have for relatives, so different with no common string
one used for smoking, one for hotness, one used to refer idler and one referred as veggie's King
I am not what you refer to me most often
I am 'fruit' of labour but never called one
so I am neither a wolf nor a peach in the scale of one to ten
but then why do you think I am called one as so?
I can go green with envy, or completely red with anger
A little crown on my head makes my walk look like a swagger
You cant do without me in your day to day cooking
Tell me what veggie I am without too much thinking.

In Indian cuisine there are very few recipes that does'nt use this vegetable. As soon as I cracked the riddle (only the second time :)) I decided that I should try something special with tomatoes. After many research through all the food recipes, I fixed my mind on the following recipe.But it took till the last day to actually make the dish and post this recipe.
The recipe is very simple and it takes only a few minutes to prepare excluding the baking time

For Stuffing:

2 slices of whole wheat bread
a handful of chopped olives, green or black
2 tsp choped garlic
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tblsp parmesan cheese or any cheese of your choice. 2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper


Method
Preheat the oven to 375F or 200C
Toast 2 bread slices and cut into 1 inch cubes.
Mix all the stuffing ingredients and leave aside for 10 mins till the bread pieces soak up the liquid.
Take 3 ripe and firm tomatoes.Slice the crown part and keep aside.
Carefully remove the pulp using a paring knife, taking care not to poke the tomatoes.
Discard the seeds and just add the chopped pulp to the stuffing mixture.
Rub the inner sides with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Stuff the tomatoes, rub the outer part with olive oil.
Replace the crown Place in a baking dish and bake for 30-35 mins



Since we love mozzarella chesse I topped it with some shredded mozzarella after 30 mins and baked for another 7-8 mins.
You can avoid this part if you want.









I served it for dinner with a bowl of bell pepper - mint-couscous.







OK one more final picture..:)


If you like the post, picture and of course the dish please vote for me in 'Open sesame'