Mireille Johnston

Tomates Provencale

Baked Tomatoes with Parsley and Garlic

Preparation info

  • Difficulty

    Easy

  • For

    6

    people

Appears in

top 1000The Cuisine of the Sun: Classical French Cooking from Nice and Provence

The Cuisine of the Sun

By Mireille Johnston

Published 1990

  • About

Most tomates provençale served in American restaurants are burnt on the outside and watery and soggy on the inside. In Provence they are prepared quite differently. In the traditional recipe the tomatoes are cooked on top of the stove before being baked, so that all their excess water is cooked away and they look transparent—like candied fruit. In Provence, they say they must look like a vitrail (stained-glass window). This dish is sometimes eaten cold in Nice, but I prefer it warm.

Ingredients

  • 6 firm tomatoes, cut in half
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • ½ cup bread crumbs (preferably homemade)
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • ½ cup minced parsley

Method

Preheat the oven to 375°.

Put the tomato halves upside down on paper towels and drain the excess juice.

Heat 1½ tablespoons of the olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the tomato halves and cook them—six halves at a time—cut side down for 5 minutes over a medium flame. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and carefully turn them over with a spatula. Cook for 3 minutes, then delicately remove the tomatoes with a spatula and put into an oiled baking dish. This can be done in advance to this point.

Just before serving, sprinkle the tomatoes with bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and 1½ tablespoons of the olive oil and bake for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with garlic and parsley and serve immediately.

© 1990 Mireille Johnston estate. All rights reserved.