One More Thing to Do When in Tomato Heaven: Stuff Them with Quinoa

I had a plan this morning. I had bought some yellow tomatoes at the farm on Saturday that I hadn’t tried yet so I would use one to make a simple quinoa dish for dinner and add another to put in a salad. I set some red quinoa in water to soak for several hours and went on with my day. When I got home, I found these gorgeous beauties all hanging together behind some very bushy stems of a tomato plant.

They were so ready to pick–so perfectly ripe that I could’ve eaten one straight off the plant like an apple. They were too pretty to put in the refrigerator or to freeze and there were too many to put in salad, so I thought, “I’ll stuff them with quinoa!” I came up with the quick recipe below that made a very tasty filling and baked very nicely in the tomatoes:

Quinoa-Stuffed Tomatoes

5 – 6 large fresh tomatoes, tops cut off and insides scooped out and set aside

1 c quinoa, soaked in water for several hours and rinsed extensively

2 c water or veggie broth

1 T grapeseed oil or which ever oil you’d like to use

1 shallot, minced

1 red pepper, chopped fine

1 – 2 stalks celery, chopped fine

the insides from 2 tomatoes, chopped fine

sea salt

pepper

Emeril’s Essence (I’ve made a batch of his spice recipe w/o salt and I use it frequently)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 t fresh thyme

1 T chopped, fresh oregano

1 egg, lightly beaten

¼ c finely chopped walnuts

Place the rinsed quinoa and water or veggie broth into a medium saucepan on high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook ~8-10 minutes or until almost cooked through. Drain if any liquid remains. In the meantime, in a medium skillet, sauté the shallot, red pepper, and celery. Next, add the chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper, and herbs and sauté for 1 – 2 minutes more. Remove from the heat and add the garlic. Fold the mixture into the quinoa, add the egg and walnuts and mix well. Stuff into the hollow tomatoes, place into a baking dish, then top with freshly grated parmesan if desired. Bake at 350° F for 30 minutes. Let cool a little before serving and then dig in!