I love crab – that sweet but distinctly from the sea taste. Usually when I buy crabmeat I make crab cakes, but I decided to try something different this time. One of my favorite lunch spots, Zest Café and Home Art has a crab and shrimp stuffed tomato on the menu and I thought I’d do my own take on the idea. A slightly acidic, sweet tomato is the perfect foil for crab. The corn and red pepper augment the sweetness and the lemon brightens the dish. The coriander seed and cilantro add the perfect subtle aromatic notes.
Baked Stuffed Tomatoes Tips
There are a few tricks to stuffed baked tomatoes. You want to buy tomatoes that are not fully ripe – they’ll hold together better. Salting the scooped out tomatoes and letting them drain upside down helps remove excess moisture. And they should bake just long enough to heat the filling. Do not – and I say this from experience – stick your finger in them to check if the stuffing is hot. They may burst. The baking time here is just enough. I like to spread them out on a baking sheet rather than doing them in a casserole dish so that the moisture that bakes out of them can spread away.
- 5-6 medium sized not real ripe tomatoes
- 1 lb crabmeat
- ¼ cup finely diced red pepper
- 1 shallot, finely diced
- 1 ear of corn
- 1 ½ Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- ½ tsp ground coriander seed
- ¼ cup finely chopped cilantro plus some leaves for garnish
- Juice and grated peel of ½ lemon
- ½ tsp salt plus some for sprinkling in tomatoes
- 1 ½ Tbsp margarine
- 9 gluten-free rice crackers
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Slice across the tops of the tomatoes and scoop out the pulp leaving just the wall of the tomatoes. A serrated grapefruit spoon works great for this.
- Sprinkle the insides of the tomatoes with salt and turn them upside down on a few layers of paper towels to drain for 15 -20 min.
- Strip the kernels off the corncob. This is most easily done with a knife holding the ear upright in a large bowl to catch the kernels.
- Heat the oil over medium high heat and sauté the red pepper, shallot and corn 2 minutes.
- Add the ground coriander seed and sauté another minute.
- Mix the crabmeat, sautéed vegetables, ¼ cup cilantro, lemon juice and peel and ½ tsp salt in a large bowl.Blot the insides of the tomatoes dry with a paper towel.
- Stuff them with the crab mixture. Don’t pack it in too densely.
- Melt margarine in a small bowl, 20-30 seconds in the microwave.
- Put crackers in a mini-chopper, blender or processor and process to fine crumbs.
- Mix crumbs and margarine and sprinkle over top of stuffing in tomatoes.
- Spread the tomatoes out on a greased baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for 35 min.
- Turn the oven up to broil on high and cook about 3 more minutes until cracker crumbs are browned.
- Let them cool down a couple minutes and then support them on one side with your hand as you gently slide a large serving spoon or spatula under the other side to transfer to plates.
- Garnish with cilantro leaves.
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