Ciabatta Stuffed Tomatoes
By: Emily Heston
Published: Thursday, December 10, 2009 - 5:25pm

Ingredients




Tomatoes stuffed with pesto ciabatta

1 1/2 cups ciabatta breadcrumbs
9 smalls ripe, firm, ripe roma tomatoes (or  round tomatoes)
1/2 cup of pesto (homemade or store bought)
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation

1 Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 2 Slice the tops off of the tomatoes (save the tops for garnish later). Hollow out the cavities of the tomatoes by gently squeezing them and using your pinky finger. 3 Salt and pepper the inside of the tomatoes and put them on a rack, upside down, with paper towels below, to shed some water. 4 To prepare the bread crumbs: slice a day old ciabatta loaf lengthwise (so the slices can fit into the mouth of your food processor), using the steel blade attachment process the bread lengths until nicely "crumbed". 5 Thoroughly mix the pesto in with 1-1/2 cups of breadcrumbs. 6 Using a small spoon and your fingers, stuff the tomato cavities with the bread crumb mixture. 7 Place the tomatoes in a baking container. Drizzle the tops of each of the tomatoes with olive oil. 8 Place in the heated oven and bake for 40 minutes. When finished, the tomatoes should be soft but not collapsing. The bread crumbs should have a golden brown crust.