Recipe: Baked Tomatoes

This is a pleasant little side dish that goes so well with so many meals. We try really hard to watch our diets and often eat grilled meats and fish with vegetables and a salad…. (I figure this way I can have dessert)… so I really try to make sure our vegetables have variety … I use a lot of herbs… and garlic… I think Warren would eat garlic every day…. no vampire worries at our house…

We eat sliced tomatoes with chopped basil a lot. Sometimes I like to make this dish and bake them…. baking them really infuses the garlic flavor. It really is a nice change….and so easy.

The quantities will depend on how much you want to make. I figure 1 tomato per person. I use one small garlic clove for every 2-4 tomatoes… I use enough olive oil to brush the tomato halves and the foil in the pan…. And I figure about one tablespoon or so of chopped fresh basil for every 2 tomatoes (4 halves).

Enjoy!

Baked Tomatoes Recipe:

All you need:

Firm ripe tomatoes
Olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Garlic clove(s)
Chopped fresh basil
Finely chopped parsley (optional)
Seasoned Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs

All you need to do:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line a pan with Reynolds Wrap Non-Stick Foil ( I love this stuff, nothing sticks to it)… brush lightly with oil.

Clean and cut tomatoes in half vertically. Cut out a small "V" to take out the part where the stem is.

Place the tomatoes in the pan, cut side up. Put them close together so they don’t fall over. (I took a tiny amount off the backside so they would lay without rolling)

Sprinkle salt and freshly ground pepper over them.

Brush the tops with olive oil.

Finely chop garlic and basil.

Sprinkle the tops of the tomatoes with the garlic-basil mixture.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Remove pan and sprinkle with the chopped fresh parsley and Italian seasoned bread crumbs. Drizzle a little olive oil using a small spoon.

Return pan to the oven and bake for 5 minutes.

The tomatoes will have wilted somewhat and the juices will leaked out a bit.