GrillinFools
What screams summer more than fresh tomatoes? I can’t think of anything other than maybe Cardinal Baseball! And not those kinda pink, mushy tomatoes they sell at the grocery store even in the coldest months. Sure, most grocers carry vine ripened tomatoes that are smaller, redder and more expensive. And those are much better than the pink ones, but still not the same as fresh tomatoes that can be bought at the farmers market, road side stand or picked off the vine in your backyard. I particularly like yellow tomatoes for this, but used both yellow and red in this Grilled Stuffed Tomatoes recipe.
With those fresh tomatoes I love to; put them on burgers, place a thick slice on a plate and top with egg salad, cover the top of pizzas before I grill them, put on a grilled cheese sandwich (done on the grill and not in a skillet), top grilled romaine with them, put in grilled flank steak fajitas, and of course grill them by themselves in a grilled tomato salad or stuffed tomatoes with cheese, corn, garlic and shallots.
Grilled Stuffed Tomatoes Ingredients:
- 4 fresh tomatoes
- 1 cup shredded cheese (I used a premade six cheese Italian but any white soft cheese would work)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/3 cup flat leaf parsley, rough chopped
- 1/3 cup corn cut from the cob
- 1 tbsp shallots, minced
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 pinch of coarse salt
- 10 turns of fresh cracked black better and 10 of white (the latter is optional)
- 4 pinches of the shredded cheese for on top
You will notice that I only have two tomatoes in the pictures because this grilling recipe I made for myself. Don’t worry if you make more stuffing than can fit into four tomatoes. You can freeze the remaining.
Start by taking a sheet of aluminum foil for each tomato. Roll it into a thick chord and then form into a ring like so and set the the fresh tomatoes in them so they will stay upright on the grill:
As you can see I sliced the top off the soon to be stuffed tomatoes and now it’s time to get in there with a melon baller:
Take out the soft, juicy stuff from the inside but leave the outer shell:
Now you have the option of adding the guts of the tomatoes to the stuffing concoction:
If you include the guts of the tomato in the stuffing, skip the olive oil. That’s all the moisture you’ll need.
Speaking of the stuffing, let’s get to that.
Combine the rest of the ingredients other than the pinch of cheese in a bowl:
Now get your hands dirty, literally, and mix the ingredients together into a thick stuffing paste:
Now spoon the mixture into the tomatoes and add a pinch of cheese on top:
If you have any leftover, simply place in a resealable plastic bag and freeze for later:
Now it’s time to prep the grill, in this case the Grill Manufacturer That Shall Not Be Named. The stuffed tomatoes need to be cooked indirect for 60-90 minutes at 275-300. So place the coals and smoke wood on one side and the meat (or in this case, grilled stuffed tomatoes) on the other side:
By the way, those are my Asian Baby Back’s that I discuss in this post.
60-90 minutes seems like a huge swing in cook times. That’s because after an hour they looked like this:
I put the grilled stuffed tomatoes on after my baby backs had been on for about 30 minutes, so at this point the tomatoes have been on an hour and are probably ready to eat, but my ribs still needed another 30 minutes. I left the tomatoes on and pulled them when they looked like this and my ribs were done:
I yanked the stuffed tomatoes from the grill and plated them:
The skin came off as I sliced through the tomatoes. It was a little chewy and bitter so I discarded the skin:
The cheese on top looked burnt, but it was awesome. It was both crunchy and a little sweet from the caramelization of the proteins. I would probably put more cheese on next time. The rest of the grilled stuffed tomatoes had the acidity of the tomato, the gooeyness of the cheese, sweetness of the corn and the savoriness of the garlic, shallots and parsley, and of course the smokiness of the grill for a well rounded flavor profile.
This is an outstanding side dish to go on the grill next time you do ribs or even some pork tenderloin you might be reverse searing.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave them below or shoot me an email.
If you liked the stuffed tomatoes recipe and would like to see another grilling recipe or two of side dishes and appetizers, click here. Or other fruits and vegetables click here.
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Grilled Stuffed Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 4 tomatoes
- 1 cup shredded cheese I used a premade six cheese Italian but any white soft cheese would work
- 2 clove garlic minced
- ⅓ cup flat leaf parsley rough chopped
- ⅓ cup corn cut from the cob
- 1 tbsp shallots minced
- ½ cup bread crumbs
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 pinch coarse salt
- 10 turn freshly ground black pepper
- 10 turn freshly ground white pepper optional
- 4 pinch shredded cheese for on top
Instructions
- Take 1 sheet of aluminum foil per tomato, form into a chord and then form into a ring to place the tomatoes in
- Slice off the tops of the tomatoes and core them with a melon baller or spoon
- Combine all the ingredients except the tomatoes and the 4 pinches of cheese in a bowl and combine
- Fill the cored tomatoes with the stuffing and top with a thick punch of shredded cheese
- Set up the grill for two zone/indirect grilling with coals and smoke wood on one side and nothing on the other
- Target temperature for the grill is 275-300
- Grill indirect for 60-90 minutes
- Remove from the grill and plate
Notes
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