Paulette's Tomates Farcies

I love my neighbors! But I had a tough time understanding them at first! Thankfully, tomatoes don't need a translator! In the above video, you'll learn how to turn tomatoes into tiny, stuff-able bowls and how to transform a zucchini into shot glass-like structures, filling them up with yummy goodness. And note: in this video, I didn't lightly salt the tomatoes. If you over salt, like I did, shake off the excess.

Paulette’s Tomates Farcie

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Serves 4

Great for: a simple family meal, a casual dinner amongst good friends

Wine suggestion: A Bandol Rosé

Extra virgin olive oil

8 large tomatoes*

¼ cup dry white wine

1 ¼ pound ground meat, either hamburger or pork, or, preferably, a mix of both

3 cloves garlic, peeled, de-germed, and finely minced

2 shallots, finely minced

½ cup finely minced parsley (flat variety preferred), plus extra for garnish

3 healthy pinches herbes de Provence

1½ slices white bread, crusts cut off, torn into pieces

1 egg

1 handful breadcrumbs or panko (optional)

1 healthy pinch fleur de sel (or other coarse salt)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Lightly cover the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish with olive oil. Slice the caps off the tomatoes, and place them to the side. Hollow out the tomatoes with a knife and a spoon, without cutting through the bottom, so they resemble small bowls. Set the tomato pulp aside. Lightly salt the interior of each tomato, setting them upside down on a plate to drain. Coarsely chop the tomato pulp and place it in the baking dish. For the farcie (stuffing), mix the ground meat in a large mixing bowl with the garlic, shallots, parsley, and herbes de Provence. Season with salt and pepper. Place the slice of bread on the mixture. Add the egg to the meat mixture, and mix all of the ingredients with your hands. Once the meat is well-combined with the herbs, use a spoon to fill the tomatoes to the top with the meat stuffing. Place the tomatoes in the baking dish, meat side up.** Drizzle with olive oil, and place a “cap” on each tomato. Add the wine to the tomato pulp mixture in the bottom of the baking dish. Sprinkle the entire dish with a bit of fleur de sel. Bake for 45 minutes. Serve with rice, spooning the sauce from the bottom of the baking dish on top. Garnish with chopped parsley.

* You can also stuff small squashes or zucchini (as seen in the video). Mixing up your vegetables makes for a colorful, happy dish! Try this with peppers, too!

** If you’d like to sprinkle some breadcrumbs or Panko on the farcie (stuffing), now’s the time to do it.