Tomatoes au Gratin - Pomodori Gratinati

This recipe comes straight from Nonna's kitchen, it's something she used to cook for her hotel guests. Across Italy there are various versions of this beautiful side dish and you can always play with the ingredients: add more garlic, add more cheese, add herbs... have fun :-) I like to think that Vegetables au Gratin is a reasonably healthy recipe, consisting mainly of baked veggies and bread crumbs, and it certainly tastes delicious!


Here I used farm fresh tomatoes, but the same procedures will work on zucchini, eggplant, capsicum and sweet onion. I was just wandering - do you know how to pick your tomatoes at the markets? Besides buying what's in season from a trustworthy farmer, you also need to use your hands, eyes and nose.

weight: they must feel heavy for their size
smell: they must smell earthy near the stem
skin: must be shiny and smooth
flesh: must be firm, not too hard and not too soft. When gently pressed, skin must give but bounce back.

Ingredients (serves about 5)
- 5 round tomatoes
- 100 gr breadcrumbs
- 1 teaspoon garlic, finely chopped
- 6 tablespoons extra vergin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
- fresh parsley, salt and pepper to taste

Steps
Sorry for the eggplant in the pictures, please ignore it :-)

1.Prepare the tomatoes: wash, dry, cut in half, eliminate seeds, rinse with cold water and place bottom up in a colander to drain

2. Prepare the filling: add breadcrumbs, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, parsley and cheese. Mix well to soak all of the breadcrumbs in oil.

3. Fill up the tomatoes with the breadcrumb mixture, place on baking paper in oven tray and bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 180ºC.












Have a Thermomix?
Too easy! Follow step 1 above to prepare the tomatoes, and then to prepare the mixture:

- Put breadcrumbs*, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, parsley, cheese in the bowl 15 Sec. Speed 7.

- Proceed with step 3 above. Buon appetito :-)

*did you know you can make your own breadcrumbs with Thermomix, from your home made bread? Yay!

Match it with
This great side dish suits both meat and fish main courses.