italian stuffed tomatoes

By MelanieAnn

Ingredients

• tomatoes - 6 large heirloom
• ground beef - 1/2 pound, lean
• white rice - 1/2 cup, medium grain
• garlic cloves - 3, pressed
• onion - 1/2, finely diced
• parsley - 1/3 cup, chopped
• basil - 1/4 cup, chopped
• asiago cheese - 1/2 cup, shredded
• salt and pepper - to taste
• olive oil - 5 tbsp

Details

Adapted from comfortaglefood.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 325 F.

Cut off the top of each tomato, creating a 'lid'. Put a fine mesh strainer over a bowl, and use your fingers to carefully scoop the seeds out of the tomatoes into the strainer. Push on the seeds to get all of the juice, then discard the seeds.

Use a spoon to scoop out most of the flesh from the tomatoes, then chop that up and add to the tomato juice.

Put the beef and rice in a large bowl, add the garlic, onion, parsley, basil, cheese and the tomato pieces and liquid. Add 2 1/2 tbsp of the olive oil, salt and pepper, and mix together well.

Fill the tomatoes with the meat filling and arrange in a casserole dish. Top each tomato with its lid and drizzle with the remaining olive oil.
Bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes, or until the tomatoes are soft and the rice is cooked.

Let stand for about 15 minutes before serving.