Pomodori al forno
It is so much fun to harvest in the garden early on a summer morning! Today I got lots of tomatoes and they look beautiful! Decided to combine my favorite comforting flavors: tomato-potato-bread crumbs. Try this in your wood fired oven or in your conventional oven (in this case just add 10-15 minutes to the cooking time).
tomato harvest
Pomodori al forno
6 medium tomatoes, ripe but firm
2 russet potatoes
1 cup of olive oil + 2 tablespoons
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 teaspoons dry oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Cube the potatoes and boil them in salted water. When they are done, mashed the potatoes with a fork. Set aside.
With a sharp knife cut off the top of the tomato. Holding the tomato in the cup of one hand, gently scoop out the pulp, making sure not to tear the tomato. Keep the pulp and juice, you will use it later.
ready for the wood fired oven
Ok, so I am partial to making my own bread crumbs. This may be because I just can’t trow away good bread, so I always keep some handy in the fridge drawer, stored in a paper bag. Baguettes are the best for this sort of thing. Break the hardened bread in pieces and process in a food processor. The crumbs will not be uniform size and some will be a bit larger, which is good.
Place the bread crumbs in a bowl and add about 8 tablespoons of the tomato juice and pulp you set aside. Mix in the 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the 2 teaspoons of dry oregano, and salt and pepper to taste. Then add the mashed potatoes and mix. Scoop this mixture into each tomato.
Place the tomatoes snugly either in two loaf pans or other metal pan. Add the olive oil so that it comes up about 1/2 inch. Baste the tomatoes with some of the olive oil.
Bake in a 300 degrees F oven for 20 minutes. Take out and baste the tomatoes with the olive oil in the pan. Return to the oven for another 20 minutes.
pomodoro al forno!
Mmmmh… so good with some aged goat cheese or pecorino!
Buon appetito.
