Baked Stuffed Tomatoes

I took a month off and went on a trip to France for the summer. I so needed it.
While I was traveling on the French Riviera I stopped in Nice for a couple of days.
What a gorgeous city, you could easily have stayed there a week — or 37 years, like the artist Matisse did.
Anyways, on a breezy summer evening in a small brasserie on the Promenade des Anglais, I tried some amazing tomates farcies à la viande hachée (i.e., tomatoes stuffed with ground beef.)
An amazingly simple dish but so fantastically delicious that the next day and the day after that I came back to the same brasserie to eat it again.

Though I never had them before, these Baked Stuffed Tomatoes tasted to me like home-cooked comfort food. Like a recipe made by the grand-mother (or better yet, grand-mamam) for her grandsons. Like things that are passed from generation to generation. If you know what I mean...

The recipe starts by first slicing tomatoes in half horizontally and removing the seeds. Then the tomato is stuffed with ground beef that is mixed with onions, garlic, egg, and parsley — which by the way totally makes this dish.
This is also a recipe fully customizable, so feel free to change herbs, add spices, or use a different kind of meat.
All-in-all a gorgeous yet hearty end-of-the-summer dish.

Baked Stuffed Tomatoes                                                                                                                        Print this recipe!

Ingredients
Serves 4

4 large tomatoes
10 oz / 300 gr ground beef (I used 90/10)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) and place a rack in the middle.
Rinse and dry tomatoes, carefully cut off the top and set aside. With a teaspoon remove seeds and pulp from the tomatoes. Set aside the pulp and discard the seeds.
Sprinkle inside of tomatoes with salt and put on a rack face down.
In a large bowl mix ground beef, tomato pulp, onion, garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper.
Add egg and mix well.
Divide mixture into four parts and stuff hallowed tomatoes. Cover with the tomatoes tops.
Lightly grease a rimmed baking sheet, place tomatoes, and bake for 30 minutes.
Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Nutrition facts

One serving (i.e., one tomato) yields 171 calories, 9 grams of fat, 7 grams of carbs, and 16 grams of protein.