Sunday, January 18, 2009

Roasted Campari Tomatoes with Parmesan, Fresh Herbs, and Crouton Crumbs




These are lovely. Everyone has a version of these in their repertoire and I bet they're all equally delicious. I like using Campari tomatoes because they're fun to serve and eat (you can put 3-4 on a plate versus one large one.) They would even make great little appetizers as you can easily eat them in one bite.

By the way - do you have one of these old school baking dishes with the blue pattern on the side? Every time I pull this out, friends always say the same thing - "My mom had one of those!" I can't remember if I got ours from my mom or Kris's, but it's still a workhorse in my kitchen!

Roasted Campari Tomatoes with Parmesan, Fresh Herbs, and Crouton Crumbs

8-10 Campari tomatoes (little golf ball sized tomatoes, stems removed and halved horizontally)
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
1/4 cup crouton crumbs (I use Pepperidge Farm seasoned croutons, bashed a little in a ziploc)
1 tablespoon minced fresh herbs (2 large basil leaves minced with some minced flat leaf parsley)
Olive Oil (about 2 tablespoons)
Fresh cracked black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease an 8 by 8 baking dish and set aside.

Using a small spoon, gently scoop the flesh from the halved tomatoes and discard. You don't need to scrape them completely dry - just remove the majority of the pulpy flesh so they won't leak too much in the oven and become soggy. Set them side by side in your prepared dish on their bottoms, filling the dish but not squishing them to make them fit. You may not need all of the tomatoes depending on their size, or you might need a couple more.

Add the Parmesan, crouton crumbs, and minced herbs to a small ziploc, seal and shake to combine. Fill your tomatoes with the mixture - about a teaspoon or so per tomato. Drizzle all of the tomatoes with olive oil being sure to get some over each of the crouton crumbs and parmesan so they brown, then sprinkle fresh cracked pepper over the top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until tops are golden brown.

1 comment:

Haley said...

I love these things! I make them all the time when I have leftover tomatoes that I don't know what to do with. And yes, I believe my mother gave me that nice little dish as well. I don't think I'll ever get rid of it.