Feta Stuffed Tomatoes

The combination of feta cheese with fresh tomatoes conjures up a delicious taste of summertime in Greece. With a few simple ingredients, you get a wonderful appetizer for a dinner party or serve as a mid-week dinner entree.

The key to this recipe is to use the ripest, reddest tomatoes available. If your tomatoes aren’t quite ripe (meaning they are a pinkish-orange color instead of bright red), place them in a brown paper bag and keep in a dark place for a day or two to ripen.

Over the years, I have switched to using Panko over traditional bread crumbs. Panko is the Japanese version of bread crumbs. They tend to be lighter, crispier, and crunchier than Western varieties. Panko is excellent for breading, toppings and make an excellent filler. They are available at Asian grocers or can also be found in the baking section of your local food market (or where traditional bread crumbs are stocked).

The recipe as presented is Greek in style. Feel free to experiment with other varieties of cheese and spices to achieve tastes of other cuisines (i.e.: Parmigianino Cheese and Italian spices for an Italian style stuffed tomato).

Ingredients

• 4 medium-sized ripe tomatoes
• 1/2 cup finely crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 bread crumbs or Panko
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 tbsp. finely chopped scallions
• 2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley

Process

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
   
   
2. Carefully cut tops off tomatoes
   
   
3. Using a spoon, carefully scoop out pulp and seeds - save pulp and discard seeds
   
   
4. Coarsely chop the tomato pulp
   
   
5. In a small bowl, combine tomato pulp with scallions, parsley, feta cheese, bread crumbs, and olive oil
   
   
6. Spoon mixture into the hollowed-out tomatoes
   
   
7. Place tomatoes right side up in a small baking pan and bake for 15 minutes
   
   
8. Serve stuffed tomatoes steaming hot