Tomates Farcies - French Stuffed Tomatoes
Last summer, I became obsessed with tomates farcies, which are traditional French stuffed tomatoes, served with rice These slow-cooked stuffed tomatoes mellow in their juices and aromatics to become sweet, fragrant and delicious.
Tomates farcies are a humble French comfort food, easy to make, and rarely found in a restaurant. In France, you can buy pre-seasoned meat stuffing called farce à tomates but I wanted to create my own recipe for when I am back in Asia. I always serve these with rice, Premium Japanese and Basmati rice are my favourites. There are many versions of these stuffed tomatoes that include cheese or breadcrumbs but I prefer them with just meat and aromatics.
This stuffed tomato with rice recipe is very low in calories as it contains no added oil yet it packs it on the taste front. Tomatoes are a great source of the antioxidant lycopene as well as Vitamins A and C. Parsley aids digestion and thyme known for its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Here’s what I learnt making them so many times this summer. My top tips for making these tomatoes are:
Try to buy similarly sized tomatoes so that they cook evenly
Do wrap each tomato in a aluminium foil skirt to prevent the them from falling apart.
Don’t be tempted to turn up the temperature - the mellow sweet taste comes from cooking the stuffed tomatoes a a low temperature.
Ingredients
Serves 4
4-6 large summer tomatoes, preferably ribbed
500g /18oz pork, minced/ground
1 clove garlic, finely minced (or grated)
Half an onion, very finely minced.
Parsley, 4 tablespoons, finely chopped
Thyme, 2 tablespoons finely chopped and some extra sprigs
Salt & Pepper
The tomatoes in their aluminium paper jackets that will protect them in the oven.
Method
Preheat the oven to 160C or 320 F
Prepare the tomatoes: Slice the caps off. Empty each fruit by cutting a cross in the centre of the flesh and cutting around it. Be sure not to cut too deep into the walls or base so that the tomato does not collapse. Alternatively use a vegetable corer.
Transfer the tomato pulp to a bowl, add 1 tablespoon of the thyme leaves and season with 1 teaspoon of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Blitz using a hand held mixer. Add a little water if too thick. This mixture will sit at the base of your oven dish.
Leave the emptied tomatoes to stand for 10 minutes and then empty out any juices that gather adding to the pulp bowl.
Meanwhile Combine the stuffing ingredients and season very well - I use 20g of salt for 600g of meat.
Stuff each tomato with the meat mixture so that the meat is tight and compact. I roll the meat into a ball in my hands first.
Roll up some aluminium foil and wrap around each tomato like a skirt. This is to help the tomatoes hold their shape in the oven. Then replace the cap of each tomato. Place in the oven dish. And cover the bottom of the pan with the liquidised pulp. Add a couple more sprigs of thyme to the liquid if desired.
Place in an oven at 160c for 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the size of the tomatoes. Baste each tomato with the liquidised pulp every 15 minutes. Larger amounts of stuffing will take longer to cook. If unsure whether the meat is cooked through, I suggest using a using a meat thermometer such as a Thermopen - pork is cooked at 145 F or 62C.
Serve hot on a bed of rice.
