This is one dish that will always mean summer to me, I don't have it any other time. This is simple summer cooking, stuffed tomatoes with an extremely herbie combo of mince pork and your favourite sausage mix. This is my mum's recipe, it was a regular in our house every summer. My dad's allotment at this time of year was bursting with vegetables of all kind. This was the South of France and we had plenty of gorgeous and juicy tomatoes of course, far too many actually. This recipe is super easy to make, and perfect for alfresco dining. So here it is, simple and oh! so delicious, stuffed tomatoes.
4 beef tomatoes and 4 small vine tomatoes
500 g mince pork
6 of your favourite sausages
thyme (as much as you like), finely chopped
4 spring onions finely chopped
parsley (as much as you like), finely chopped
one table spoon of tomato puree
one table spoon of mascarpone (strangely enough something like cottage cheese works just as well too)
one table spoon of soy sauce
Pre-heat your oven to 170°C (fan oven)
Start by mixing your mince with your sausage meat (take out the skin of the sausages). Add your spring onions, herbs, tomato puree, mascarpone and your soy. This mix can be made well in advance even the day before. It actually tastes better if you can.
Cut the top of your tomatoes, these will be used as your lid. Then, remove the flesh inside your tomato, don’t throw it away, as you can make a gorgeous tomato sauce with it. You may also freeze it if you are not going to be using it soon. Start filling your tomatoes with your mince, prick the side of your tomatoes with a knife. This will allow them to cook quicker and more evenly. Place them in an oven tray. Drizzle them with a bit of olive oil and pop in the oven for a good 45 minutes to an hour.
If you are vegetarian, you can replace the mince with cooked rice mixed with finely chopped courgettes for example.
Local suppliers worth checking out for this recipe: Burwash Larder, Radmore Farm shop , Long Horn Farm shop. For a flavour of our cooking and baking classes click here
