Tomatoes Maison

We saw this Jacque Pepin recipe this winter in PBS.  We tried it out last night.   Yum.  We didn't have any leftover meat so we used chorizo.

Preheat oven to 400
Ingredients
Stale or leftover bread - cut up into small pieces (approx 2 c) - I used rye
3/4 c water
Left over meat - chopped or shredded (approx 2 c) *I used less since chorizo is spicy approx 1 c
1/4 onion finely chopped
1/2 zucchini - meaty part only, no seeds, small dice
4 cloves garlic - chopped
1/2 t black pepper
1 t salt
1 egg
Parsley - chopped (approx 3 T)
4 large, round tomatoes

Brown up chorizo and set aside.  Place bread in a bowl and sprinkle with the water.  It should become moist but not soggy.  You may or may not use all the water.  Add chopped onion, garlic, diced zucchini, black pepper 1/2 t salt, and 2 T parsley.  Combine.  Add the chorizo and egg into the mixture.  It should be wet but not soggy.

Cut the top 1/4 of tomatoes off and set aside for caps during baking.   Carefully hollow up the tomatoes using a metal spoon being careful not to puncture through the tomato skin  and saving the inside of the tomatoes in a bowl.  Finely chop up the inside of all the tomatoes and stir in remaining 1/2 t salt. 

Stuff the tomato shells with the stuffing mixture, placing them in a square baking dish.  Top with tomato caps.  Gently pour the remaining chopped tomato mixture around the stuffed tomatoes. 
Bake for 50 - 60 mins.  Serve topped with remaining parsley.
*My boat oven did not get hot enough in time (only 300) and our guest arrived on time so I served ours after approx 45 mins and lesser heat and they were still really good.  In fact we liked the texture of the tomatoes at this point and discussed the fact that longer baking could potentially make the tomatoes mushy in texture.  What could have used more time was the tomato sauce that surrounded the tomatoes.  Next time I would prefer cook this up in a sauce pan prior to adding it to the baking pan to give it a head start adding a bit of tomato paste and some red wine to deepen the flavor of the sauce.