Tomates Farcies

At the beginning of the year I set a goal to cook more french food and up the level on cooking skills. Also written a list of french recipes and this Tomates Farcies was number one on the list-to-cook for the year. I first tried this at my in-law’s and while i’m not entirely sure it’s origin or region of this dish, I often see it on the menu in bistros and pre-made ones at the supermarket making me highly think that it originated in the South of France.

Stuff tomatoes with minced meat and serve it over rice. Sounds easy to make doesn’t it? Well… the preparation can be time consuming. Removing the core of the tomatoes, marinating the meat a day before and then stuffing them into the tomatoes before baking them. I took 2 days to cook this off and the end result was so yummy, it’s worth the wait, worth the patience and definitely worth the prep : )

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 8 big fresh tomatoes

• 350 grams of minced pork

• 1 white onion diced finely

• 100ml chicken stock

• 30ml of vegetable oil

Tomato Sauce:

• 3 red tomatoes

• 1 shallot

• 4 branches of thyme

• 1 garlic clove

• 20ml olive oil

• Salt and Pepper

Riz Pilaf / Rice:

• 350 grams basmati rice

• 2 shallots

• 15 grams of unsalted butter

• 1 garlic clove

• 2 branches of thyme

• 1/2 cup white wine

• 1 litre of chicken stock

Instructions for tomatoes:

1. Wash red tomatoes and slice the “hat”. Remove all pulp of the tomatoes then lightly salt the insides of the tomatoes. Leave them aside.

2. Prepare the tomato sauce. In a small pot, add in all removed pulp together 3 fresh red tomatoes with shallots, garlic and olive oil. Simmer on medium heat until tomatoes are soft and the texture turns somewhat liquid.

3. In the same pot, add in minced meat and stir thoroughly. Cooking it for approximately 10 minutes.

4. When the stuffing is cooked, let it cool before stuffing them into the tomatoes. Ensure that they are well packed in. This helps the tomatoes to retain it’s shape in the oven.

5. Marinate the stuffed tomatoes in the refrigerator overnight.

6. Place marinated tomatoes in the oven and bake at 160 degrees for 20 minutes.

Instructions for Riz Pilaf:

1. On medium heat, sauté shallots and add in butter followed by garlic, thyme and finally, basmati rice that has been rinced.

2. Deglaze the pot with white wine and then add in chicken stock. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes and stir occasionally.

When rice and tomatoes are cooked, I like to lay the rice on the base of the baking dish, top the baked tomatoes over the rice and pop it back into the oven for another 5 minutes. This makes the rice slightly crispy which I fancy!