Stuffed Tomatoes

I saw Giada De Laurentiis make herb stuffed tomatoes on the Food Network a couple years ago. At the time, I was not a fan of beefsteak tomatoes. They seemed pretty bland, and in my experience, they were almost always mealy. But, Giada's tomatoes came out of the oven bursting with color. Little red orbs with a crunchy golden topping freckled with bright parsley and cheese. I decided that I had to try it one day.

That day was yesterday, but of course I changed it up a bit. Instead of stuffing my beefsteak tomatoes with parsley and provolone, I used Italian sausage and Parmigiano-Reggiano. I could have eaten at least ten of them, but I only made four halves, two for me and two for the spouse (though the toddler eats bacon, pernil, and other pork products, she does not fully understand the joy of sausage).

Sausage Stuffed Tomatoes

2 Italian sausage links

1/4 tsp dried oregano

2 beefsteak tomatoes

1/2 cup panko

1/4 cup (or so) Parmigiano-Reggiano (okay, I didn't measure)

2 sprigs fresh oregano

Remove sausage from the casings and brown in a small skillet. Add dried oregano and cook, stirring, for about a minute. Place cooked sausage in a medium bowl and set aside.

While the sausage cools slightly, cut the tomatoes in half. Hollow out the insides to form four cups, reserving the tomato pulp. Chop the pulp and add to the bowl with the sausage along with the panko and cheese. Chop the fresh oregano and add it to the mixture.

Place the tomato halves into a buttered dish. Fill each half with the sausage-panko mixture. It will look like this:

Bake in a 375-degree oven for about 20 minutes until browned. There's no picture of that because we ate them immediately and without restraint. Delicious.