Stuffed Tomatoes

 

These roasted tomatoes stuffed with cheesy rice, peppers and sausage were as good as they look. I figured I’d make a non-vegetarian dish for once, since it almost looked like I was eating too healthy lately. I had some spicy Italian sausage in the freezer, and figured I needed a reason to use them.

Cheesy Stuffed Tomatoes (serves 2-4)

Ingredients:

• 4 large beefsteak tomatoes
• 1/4 cup chopped peppers (green, orange, yellow, or a mixture of all 3)
• 1 tsp. butter
• 2/3 cup chopped onion
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 1/2 cups cooked rice
• 2 Italian sausages, casing removed
• salt
• pepper
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1 Tbsp bread crumbs
• olive oil

Directions:

1) Use a knife to carefully cut and remove the top of each washed tomato.

2) After cutting the top with a knife, I used a grapefruit spoon to carefully dig its guts out. Save the tomato guts in a bowl for later, you will need it to cook with.

Tomato guts! I just like saying tomato guts…

3) In a pan, melt a tsp. of butter on medium high. Add onions and peppers, cook until translucent.

4) Add sausage, cook until browned.

5) Add tomato guts! Turn heat down to low, cook for 10-15 minutes. Preheat oven at 425 degrees.

6) Add rice, salt and pepper to taste.

7) Stir 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese into rice mixture.

8) Using a spoon, stuff rice into tomatoes, packing it firmly. In casserole dish, wedge tomatoes in so they are holding each other upright. I could only get 3 to fit into my largest casserole dish, and used a smaller dish for a loner tomato. Top with remaining cheese, sprinkle with bread crumbs and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Pour a tiny bit of water into bottom of casserole dishes to prevent burning/sticking.

9) My Macgyver skills led me to create this aluminum foil contraption to wedge the single tomato in securely.

10) Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes until tomatoes are tender. Should come out like this.