Stuffed tomatoes are an excellent side dish, or contorno, as Lisa calls them, with the Italian word, in her Sunday Dinner menus. The Besciamella Sauce, Parmigiano Reggiano, and spinach make them absolutely delicious too. Lisa first discovered these recipes while visiting Emilia-Romagna and staying with family friends as a child. If you’re following the Girl Dinner craze (or, as Lisa and her daughter like to call it “apericena”), these stuffed tomatoes make an excellent main dish with some other light snacks (think mortadella- also from Emilia-Romagna!). Buon Appetito e tutti a tavola!

You can watch Lisa make this recipe on the Lisa’s Italian Kitchen YouTube channel here.

Lisa’s Stuffed Tomatoes Emiliana

Ingredients:

8 round tomatoes (campari or vine ripened, medium sized)

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup imported Parmigiano Reggiano, grated

Sicilian Sea Salt

For the Besciamella: 

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup flour

2 cups whole milk

Directions:

To make the Besciamella, melt the butter in a medium sized sauté pan. Add flour and milk, alternating each until the Besciamella is smooth. Remove from heat. Add the grated Parmigiano and 2 egg yolks, and a pinch of sea salt. Stir well. Wash the tomatoes and cut off the tops and clean out all the pulp and seeds with a spoon. Butter the bottom of a medium-sized casserole. Stand the tomatoes up in the casserole and distribute the cheese Besciamella sauce among the tomatoes, filling to the top. Top each tomato with a teaspoon of grated Parmigiano. Bake at 300 for 30 minutes until golden and bubbly.

Lisa’s Stuffed Tomatoes Florentine

Ingredients:

8 round tomatoes (campari or vine ripened, medium sized)

1 lb frozen, chopped spinach

1/2 onion

3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Directions:

Wash the tomatoes, cutting off the tops and cleaning out the pulp and seeds. In a sauté pan, place olive oil, garlic and onions, sauté until the onions are translucent. Place the onion and garlic mixture in a bowl. In the same pan, dry sauté the frozen spinach, cooking until the spinach is all thawed and there is no liquid in the pan. Return the onions and garlic to spinach. Add grated Parmigiano Reggiano to the spinach mixture. Stuff each tomato with the spinach mixture and top each tomato with grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Bake for 30 minutes until the cheese is golden and bubbly.