Three Ways to Stuff Tomatoes

There are other vegetables—peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, eggplant—that can take up the role of container for various stuffings. But none, I think, does it so gracefully as the tomato. Its own flavor is forward enough to play a significant part, yet it concedes full expression of character to the stuffing. The recipes that follow illustrate three aspects of tomato’s versatility.

My mother, who died at 101 in 1996, liked her food to be tasty and she was lucky that Romana, her companion, was able to provide it. Romana is from Bari, in Apulia, and the first of the stuffed tomatoes is hers. There is nothing shy about the components of the stuffing— anchovies, capers, oregano—whose depth of flavor and prominent fragrance clearly deliver a stimulating southern message, tempered by the sweetness of the onion and brought into harmony by the juicy tomato flesh that wraps it up.