Now that the freezer is full of summer ice creams, it's time to begin using up the ingredients in my frig left over from some overzealous grocery store trips and sumptuous dinners! I had 3 deep orange beets, a cup of chopped tomatillos, a 1/2 pound of Trader Joe's uncured smoked thick sliced-bacon, 2 pounds of cherry tomatoes, and a 1/2 loaf of my ricotta bread that was days old and crumbly. And, of course, all the herbs in left growing in my gardens (marjoram, savory, basil, chives, sage, parsley, thyme, rosemary, oregano and tarragon.) The tomatoes in the Trug are starting to ripen and I'll be using the herbs but the harvest is a few weeks away.(If you want to find out what I did with the tomatillos and beets, check out the other recipes.)
40 large red cherry tomatoes, shaped like small Romas
8 oz. whole or sliced fresh mushrooms
8 ounces cooked bacon
1⁄2 cup onion
½ cup mixture of herbs (savory, marjoram, basil, sage,
Italian parsley, rosemary, thyme and oregano)
2 tablespoons butter and 2 T olive oil
3 large, fresh green onions
1/4 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
Parmesan or Pecorino or Romano cheese to garnish before cooking.
Cut the top off each cherry tomato, scoop out the pulp and invert tomatoes on paper towels to drain.
Finely chop mushrooms and spring onion in a food processor. Finely chop the onion and the herbs.
Saute onion in butter till transparent and add the herbs and mushrooms and saute until fragrant.
In a separate pan, cook the bacon. I always prefer to precut or chop bacon before I cook it. In this case, I would suggest chopping it in the food processor.
Mix the mushroom, onion, herb mixture with the bacon and set aside.
Before cooking and serving, stir in breadcrumbs, salt and pepper and sour cream.
Arrange tomatoes closely, side by side, on baking tray so that it won't tumble. Fill stuffing into tomatoes over the brim.
Bake uncovered for 5-10 mins until cheese melts.
