First of all, this is a really nice
vegetarian recipe. Very light and tasty. Secondly, I found the recipe online here: http://www.hwatson.force9.co.uk/cookbook/recipes/veggie/tomatoesstuffedcouscous.htm
This is my version which is, in my opinion, significantly altered. And includes copious amounts of wine. So much lovely, lovely wine. If you have any questions,
you know what to do. I wrote this up after all the wine so feel free to offer corrections, etc.
Tomatoes stuffed with couscous.
- 3 medium-large sized ripe tomatoes
- 1 cup couscous (prepared, ie: you've added the boiling water, covered and let stand as per couscous prep. standards.)
- 1 small cooking onion, minced
- 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 green onions, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup finely chopped red pepper
- 2-3 medium sized button mushrooms, thin sliced & roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup firm tofu, drained, diced into small cubes (could use less - just make sure it is small.)
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste (less than 1/4tsp of each, for me)
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar (or balsamic vinegar, if you'd prefer)
- ~ 1 cup of white wine.
1. To begin with, slice a circle around the top of each of your tomatoes, removing the core/stem and de-seeding. You should be left with convenient little tomato shells. For this reason, it is best to use a ripe but not
too ripe tomato.
Discard the insides. After they are ready to be stuffed, set them off to the side temporarily. At this point it would be good to pre-heat your oven to 350F, you'll need it in a little while.
2. In a medium-sized frying pan add ~2 tbsp olive oil, your onions and garlic, and a small portion of your green onions. Sauté lightly until onions are
translucent.
3. Add red pepper, tofu cubes and mushrooms to your onions and garlic and sauté until the tofu is starting to show signs of slightly browning. Be sure to stir frequently. Add approximately a 1/4 cup of white wine, and let this go for about 2 minutes longer or until the wine is mostly cooked away.
4. Now it is time to add the still warm (hopefully) couscous to the mixture in the frying pan. Depending on the size of your tomatoes, at this point you can gauge how much couscous you will need. I think I used about 1/2-3/4 cup, but you may need more or less to even out the mixture. Throw in another dash of white
wine and cook all of it together for no more than a minute or two.
5. Spoon your mixture into the tomato shells. Press lightly to pack it in towards the bottoms and don't worry if it's heaped a little over the tops.
6. Add another 1/4 cup of wine to your now empty frying pan along with 1tbsp of
red wine vinegar (or
balsamic vinegar, if you'd prefer). Set each tomato into the frying pan carefully (try not to spill anything!) and simmer the tomatoes in the liquid for about 3 minutes, preferrably with a lid of some sort set on top of the tomatoes to keep some moisture in.
7. When most but not all of
the liquid in your frying pan is gone: remove the tomatoes carefully (they're bound to be a little hot now) and set them upright onto a baking sheet or place in any oven-safe cooking dish. They should still be firm enough for this process to be relatively
easy.
8. Add another dash of wine to the frying pan and mix it around with what is left of the remaining liquid. (Not much left?? No problem - add a little extra wine. There should be about 3/4 tsp per tomato, to give you an idea.) Distribute the remaning liquid evenly over the tomatoes and place them in your pre-heated 350F oven for 6-8 minutes.
9. You're done! Remove them from the oven, garnish with the rest of your finely chopped green onions.
As an end note - I served this with the steamed cauliflower florets and mashed potatoes made with small new potatoes (skin on) and green onions, black pepper and another dash of white wine. No milk - but yes, more wine. :)