Provencal Tomatoes

Here's a classic side dish from Julia Childs. I love making these when I can get my hands on some super red, ripe tomatoes. Check out your local Farmers' Market for the best ones. They should be open on Saturday mornings starting about this time of year all the way through summer. I love tomatoes so much though that I've made these with boring, tasteless winter tomatoes too. Cooking them deepens the flavor, though I might add a little drizzle of balsamic vinegar to these if I were using the winter tomatoes.

Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 2 large tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 TBSP chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tsp each salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs*
• olive oil

Prep

1. Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400.
2. Rinse off your tomatoes and cut down around the stems to remove them.
   

3. Slice each tomato in half horizontally.
4. Gently squeeze each tomato half into the sink to get the seeds and juice out.
   

5. Peel and chop your garlic and chop your parsley.
6. Top tomatoes evenly with garlic, salt and pepper, parsley and panko breadcrumbs.
   

7. Drizzle about 1 TBSP of olive oil over all of the tomatoes.

Cook

1. Cook for 20-30 minutes in your preheated oven until breadcrumbs are browned.

Notes

* Panko Breadcrumbs - These are Japanese-style breadcrumbs that are crispier than regular breadcrumbs. I like to keep these on hand for breading and these tomatoes. You'll find them on the Asian foods aisle. I think I have Kikkoman brand.