BLT Tomatoes

I thought BLT tomatoes sounded great and they were! I made some minor changes based on other reviews and on what I had on hand; my lettuce of choice was baby spinach, I added a couple of scallions I needed to use up, I added Parmesan cheese (to hold the stuffing together and because I love cheese.), I used panko bread crumbs because that’s what I had, and I added the chopped garlic to the stuffing. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to add the tomato flesh to the stuffing but I did chop and add it. It’s was delicious, the texture was perfect, not a sloppy mess at all! I made it as a side to a pork loin and all I wanted was the tomato!

My go to baked tomato recipe. I’m not sure why the others rated it so low? Perhaps they used iceberg lettuce. Use romaine; even after baking it is still crunchy, but caramelized from baking. I am vegan so use smoked almonds in lieu of the bacon and used homemade croutons in the place of the stale bread.

We Loved it! Instead of using stale bread cubes I used Panko Bread Crumbs!

OK, here’s how I changed this recipe for better results…

1. After hollowing out the four tomatoes, I saved the tomato “guts” and, after chopping them into smaller pieces, ran them vigorously through our salad spinner. I dumped the liquid, then spun them again to keep the moisture content as minimal as possible. These were the first ingredient added to the mixing bowl for the “stuffing,” and I salted them well with coarse sea salt to bring out their flavor while they rest.

2. The idea of frying bacon with garlic seems kind of silly to me (though I can’t say for sure, because I’ve never tried it), and wouldn’t the whole dish be more flavorful with some baked garlic all around? So, instead of cooking the bacon slices with a garlic clove, I decided to add chopped garlic to the mixing bowl for the “stuffing.” Garlic mellows when it is baked and we love garlic, so I actually added two well-chopped cloves to the mix.

3. Leave out the lettuce.

4. Mix up the well-spun, salted tomato “guts” with the chopped bacon, chopped garlic, bread cubes, mayo, salt and pepper. Stuff your tomato shells, brush with the bacon drippings, and bake.

5. Don’t eat these when they are scaldingly-hot. There is no flavor whatsoever, even if your mouth can handle extreme temperature. Either let the tomatoes rest for about ten minutes before serving, or cut the very hot tomatoes open a bit to let them cool for about five minutes, to what I would call “very warm”–above room temperature, but not too hot. The flavors really seem to emerge as these stuffed tomatoes cool slightly …But don’t eat these cold, either. The many layers of flavors are a bit elusive, so give it a try on the warm side, and let it cool a little more if your taste buds aren’t enjoying the dish yet 🙂

Last, we are thinking to add a bit more to this mix when we try it again, maybe some cut up rotisserie chicken?

Why would you bake lettuce?

There were not up to par due to the lettuce. You might try a substitue for the lettuce like some finely chopped celery and oinions?

If the bacon is cooked, no need to bake the tomatoes. This makes a nice Cold salad. Excellent with a contrasting soup.

BLT tomatoes sounded good, but I should have figured out that putting lettuce and mayo in the oven would yield a disgusting mess. The texture and taste was not up to par with most other food network recipes.