Stuffed Tomatoes
I teamed up with Harris Farm to bring to you a delicious veggie filled, vegan Christmas lunch spread. As much as I love (too much) crackling and seafood at Christmas, I love these veggie filled recipes to keep the balance and to be sure I don’t fill up before we serve my Great Aunty Dot’s Christmas pudding.
Next up in the vegan Christmas lunch recipe haul, we have bright red seasonal tomatoes, stuffed with all the spices, sauteed onion and currants. Another easy recipe to pull off. A bit of scoop (flesh out of tomatoes), a bit of a sautee (all the stuffing for the tomatoes), a bit of a bake (in the oven, your stuffed tomatoes). EASY. I will say, when I tested this recipe my husband and I ate it for dinner one night and he didn’t talk the whole time. He just ate and nodded and mumbled half words that resembled ‘yum’, ‘the best’, ‘write this recipe down’. Then at the end of dinner he clapped. I wish I was joking, it’s dramatic but it’s my FAVOURITE way to eat veggies. Simple ingredients, paired with some spices and just let the ingredients do the talking.
You could also swap the lentils for a basmati rice, quinoa or any other grain. I think it’d work really well. You could also swap the Butternut Pumpkin stuffing for this one – vice versa for both of them, depending what flavouring you were in the mood for (or what was in your cupboard). Don’t overstuff your tomatoes too much. As they bake if there’s too much pressure in them the skins will buckle a little. They’ll stay up right and still be amazing but a little blistered.
Stuffed Tomatoes. Recipe by Lunch Lady Lou. Photography/styling by Bonnie Coumbe
Ingredients
- 12 medium sized truss tomatoes
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 brown onion diced
- A good pinch of salt and more for later
- 4 sprigs thyme
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp smokey paprika
- 3 garlic cloves thin sliced
- 3 tbsp parsley chopped
- 2 tbsp mint chopped
- 1 tin lentils drained
- 2 tbsp currants
- Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees C fan forced.
- Slice tops off tomatoes and put to the side, you’ll use these later.
- Grab a tablespoon and gently run the spoon around the edge of the tomato flesh scooping out flesh and seeds. Discard into a bowl, continue this until you have 12 hollowed out tomatoes.
- Place tomatoes in a baking tray that fits them fairly snug. Coat tomatoes and their ‘lids’ with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. Arrange cut side up on tray.
- Preheat a pan on a medium heat and add remaining olive oil. Add onion to pan with a good pinch of salt. Gently cook for 5 minutes until onion is fragrant.
- Add thyme, cumin seeds, paprika and garlic cloves. Cook for 1 minute.
- Stir through parsley and mint.
- Grab your bowl of tomato flesh. Roughly scoop out the core and discard. Add tomato to pan along with lentils and currants. Mix well and cook for 3 minutes.
- Use a tablespoon to spoon stuff tomatoes with mixture and fill to the top. Don’t overfill or pack too heavily, as the cook the tomato skins will relax and can split. Season with a bit of salt and pepper.
- Place ‘lids’ on tomatoes and place in oven. Bake for 20 minutes.
- Serve immediately, or if you’d prefer to make ahead, remove from oven after 10-15 minutes and reheat on the day you’d like to serve.
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Check out my recipe for Stuffed Tomatoes for a delicious vegan Christmas lunch over here on the Harris Farm blog.
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