My sweet hubby picked up a Vegetarian Times Farmer's Market Cookbook (magazine) for me as part of my week of birthday this year. It has beautiful pictures, lots of info and ideas, and a ton of fantastic recipes that I'm anxious to try. This is the first of hopefully many that I'll try from this cookbook.
Ricotta-Basil Stuffed Tomatoes
Vegetarian Times
Serves 8
2 large eggs
1 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
2 Tbs. plus 4 tsp. grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 clove garlic, minced (1 tsp.)
1 cup corn kernels
1 cup diced zucchini plus 24 very thin zucchini slices
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Slice tops off tomatoes, and scoop pulp out of centers to make stuffable tomato shells; set aside. Discard half of tomato pulp; remove seeds from and finely chop remaining half of pulp.
Whisk together eggs and ricotta in medium bowl until smooth. Stir in red onion, basil, 2 Tbs. Parmesan, and garlic. Add corn, diced zucchini, and chopped tomato pulp; stir until combined.
Fill tomatoes just to top with 1/2 cup ricotta mixture. Sprinkle each tomato with 1/2 tsp. Parmesan, and top each with 3 zucchini slices and tomato top. Place in large baking dish.
Bake 45 minutes, or until filling is puffed up and tops are browned. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. To freeze and enjoy later: Cool stuffed tomatoes completely, then place in foil-lined baking pan. Wrap tightly in foil, then in plastic wrap, and freeze. When ready to eat, thaw tomatoes completely. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake, uncovered, 20 to 30 minutes, or until filling is hot.
Per stuffed tomato:
Calories: 130, Protein: 9g, Total fat: 5g, Saturated fat: 2g, Carbs: 18g, Cholesterol: 65mg, Sodium: 151mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugars: 10g
4 WW P+
The verdict: I loved this. I did use tomatoes from the grocery store (gasp!) because we just don't have tomatoes ready in Alaska yet. I will definitely try this again with fresh from the greenhouse tomatoes when they are ready. I did omit the onion. I see now there is basil in the recipe (um, yeah, I should have seen that in the recipe title, right?!) - that would have been yummy...but I completely overlooked it. For our preference next time I will lightly steam or saute the diced zucchini as it was a little too crunchy in the filling. Overall though, we loved this recipe. I will make it again and again. This could easily be a meatless entree for a light dinner, but here we had it with a bit of grilled steak and Crispy Parmesan Asparagus.
Lol! You forgot the basil? ;D Susan this looks great! How nice of your husband to bring you the veggie magazine. My husband is good about eating vegetarian meals and doesn't complain when I make them.
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