Cook'n is the best selling recipe organizer

Volume III
July 26, 2013


Weekly Home / Cook'n & Eat'n

An Unusual Recipe for Celebrating Fresh Tomato Bliss!

By Alice Osborne

This is the time in summer that we start getting ripe tomatoes from our garden. We eat and eat fresh tomatoes, and we celebrate the fact that now we can.

So with an abundance of tomatoes at hand, I went looking on the Internet for any tomatoes recipes I didn't already have. On one of my favorite sites, Care2, I found something I'd never heard of before, and I am curious to know if our Cook'n readers are familiar with this recipe—it's considered the go-to tomato meal—a simple tomato and bread salad: chopped tomatoes, toasted chunks of peasant bread, garlic, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper all tossed together. Does this sound familiar?

The author of the article, Melissa Breyer, said this salad can also be baked and is then known as a bread pudding. The idea sounded good to me; she said savory tomato bread pudding has long been a southern tradition. What Breyer likes about this version is that it skips the butter, cream, and eggs of a traditional savory bread pudding and instead relies on the juiciness of the tomatoes. She says it's moist on the inside, but the top gets crunchy and layers of cheese impart a nice richness to round it all out.

While the recipe calls for heirloom tomatoes, any deep red tomatoes (locally grown ones instead of the pink supermarket globes grown for transport) will work just fine. In a pinch, you can even use well drained canned whole tomatoes. Which gives me an idea: I think I'm going to get busy freezing some of our heirloom beauties so we can celebrate tomato bliss all year.


Savory Tomato Bread Pudding

Such an easy and hearty dish, this unusual side dish could even be used as a main dish!


Servings: 4
Calories per serving: 277

Ingredients:
4 or 5 large heirloom tomatoes halved and seeded (you want at least 2 pounds)
1 handful fresh herbs (basil and cilantro are nice)
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
fresh ground black pepper to taste
4 cups crusty sourdough or whole grain bread torn into rough cubes and lightly toasted
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (or Gruyere), divided


Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°. In a food processor, add tomatoes, garlic, herbs, salt, and black pepper. Pulse just until coarsely chopped. Add the toasted bread to a well-greased 1 1/2 quart baking dish and toss with olive oil. Cover with 1/2 cup cheese. Gently toss in tomatoes. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the top is crusty and golden brown. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and return for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to rest for at least 5 minutes before serving.


Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.


Help on downloading recipes


Sources:
  • www.smithfamilylowdown.blogspot.com
  • www.wizardrecipes.com
  • www.ingredientsinc.net
  • www.relish.com


Alice Osborne
Weekly Newsletter Contributer since 2006


blog comments powered by Disqus


Contribute to the Cook'n Club!

DVO would love to publish your article, prose, photography and art as well as your cooking, kitchen and nutrition tips, tricks and secrets. Visit the Newsletter Submission / Win Win for All section in our Forum for more information and details.