Stuffed Tomatoes
It's officially Tomatogeddon in our vegetable garden! 'Tis the season of complete chaos in the garden! By the time August rolls around, I fully to expect an overgrown jungle of plants, with veggie production reaching its peak. It’s a controlled chaos, though, and every year we embrace it, finding ways to put every last vegetable to good use. However, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing—our resident groundhog made an unwelcome appearance this week and, much to my dismay, took out half of our cabbages. Determined not to lose the rest, I quickly harvested what remained before our furry friend could get to them. Despite this setback, the garden is still flourishing, and there’s plenty of produce to go around.
This week, we harvested another 20 pounds of tomatoes, along with 5 pounds of peppers and two beautiful eggplants. With the abundance of tomatoes piling up, we've been busy preserving as much as we can, from canning tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes to dicing up a few more jars to enjoy throughout the year.
But what do you do when you’ve canned and frozen all you can, and still have tomatoes left over? You get creative in the kitchen! This week, I decided to make stuffed tomatoes using some of our vibrant Mushroom Basket tomatoes, and the result was absolutely marvelous. Here’s a recipe you can try at home to make the most of your garden's bounty.
Stuffed Tomatoes Recipe
1/2 cup long-grain rice
6 large tomatoes
Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 lb lean ground beef
Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 Cup parsley
1/2 tsp allspice
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 375°F. While the oven heats up, start on the stuffing.
Rinse your rice thoroughly. Place rinsed rice in a bowl and cover with water, allowing it to soak for 15 minutes. Drain the water and set the rice aside.
Heat 1/3 cup of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the diced onions and minced garlic, cooking briefly until they start to sweat. Add the ground beef to the skillet along with salt and seasoning. Brown the ground beef, breaking apart any chunks with your spoon.
Once the ground beef is browned, add the drained rice to the skillet mixing until combined.
Prepare your tomatoes for stuffing by cutting the top off of each one and setting it aside. Carefully scoop out the flesh of the tomatoes using a spoon..
Lightly oil the bottom of a casserole dish. Spoon the meat and rice mixture into the hollowed-out tomatoes and place them in the prepared baking dish. Cover each tomato with its reserved top. Any leftover stuffing can be added to the bottom of your casserole dish.
Pour about 1/2 cup of water into one corner of the baking dish, then sprinkle a pinch of salt and drizzle some extra virgin olive oil over the tomatoes. Cover the dish with a lid or foil and bake 45 minutes. Remove the lid or foil and bake for an additional 30 minutes. The rice should be completely cooked and tomatoes should be tender.
This recipe is a delicious way to make use of your tomato harvest. If you want to jazz this up and make it spicier, add some red pepper flakes into the filling.
Whether you're canning, freezing, or cooking up a storm, it's all about making the most of what your garden gives you! Happy gardening and cooking!