Fancy Filled Tomatoes

I love tomatoes. Do you love tomatoes? If so, this recipe is for you!

It starts with fresh tomatoes, bursting with flavorful juices. These tomatoes are then filled to the brim with a hearty quinoa mixture and topped with an agave-sweetened balsamic dressing. What’s not to love?

I get my tomatoes from a local greenhouse called TLC. They grow their produce hydroponically, which means plants are grown in mineral solution with water instead of in dirt. My mom and I go to TLC at least once a week, and a few weeks ago my mom found out they needed help harvesting tomatoes.

So…. guess what?! I’m working in TLC’s hydroponic greenhouse harvesting tomatoes!! I work Monday and Thursday from 9-3 picking beefsteak, orange wellington, and cherry tomatoes. Four other girls and I pick 300+ pounds of tomatoes each time I’m there! Do any of you have a “summer” job?

I get a lot of tomatoes working at TLC, and I’ve mostly just been eating them plain. However, sometimes I’ve been getting fancy with my food and making dishes where tomato is the star ingredient, like in this dish.

Please HMU with tomato recipes though because I have so many tomatoes.

Look at all these ripe tomatoes at TLC. The red ones are beefsteaks and the orange ones are called orange wellingtons- they’re sweeter than most other tomatoes. 

Back to this dish. It’s super fancy, fresh, and yummo… so you should try it. Honestly, why not!? My favorite part of making this dish is scooping out the tomatoes and eating their entrails (guts? Insides? There’s no good word to use). I also like plating the dish. Serve it to someone you’re trying to impress, as it’s easy to make but it looks fancy-schmancy.

Go use ALL the fresh tomatoes and make this quinoa-filled tomato bowl. Then enjoy it.

xx Ellie

Fancy Filled Tomatoes

Serves 6 (1 serving = 1 filled tomato)

Quinoa Filling (adapted from this recipe)

• 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 tablespoon oil (I like olive oil)
• ½ a large onion, sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon ginger, minced
• a pinch of salt
• a pinch of pepper
• 1 and 3/4 cup veggie broth
• 2-3 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley
• 1 15 ounce can chickpeas

1. Soak the quinoa for about 30 minutes.
2. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add in the onion and sauté it until it’s brown (about 4 minutes).
3. Add the garlic, ginger, salt, and pepper to the pan with the onion and sauté for about 30 seconds.
4. Add in the quinoa, and stir everything around.
5. Add in the veggie broth and bring the mixture to a boil.
6. Once the mixture is at a boil, cover it with a lid and let it simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the quinoa is soft and you can’t see broth.
7. Drain the chickpeas from the can.
8. Add the chickpeas and parsley to the quinoa mixture. Your filling is complete!

White Balsamic Dressing

• ½ cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons agave
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper

1. Vigorously whisk all the ingredients together in a small bowl until they’re combined.

To assemble the dish:

• 6 big tomatoes
• quinoa filling (recipe above)
• balsamic dressing (recipe above)

1. Cut the tops of each tomato off (like in the pictures). With a spoon, scoop out the insides of the tomatoes and discard (by eating them right away or by saving them to put on salads).
2. Spoon the quinoa filling into the tomato “bowls” and plate them.
3. Drizzle some balsamic dressing onto the filled tomato bowls.
4. Garnish your filled tomatoes with more dressing, tomato slices, more fresh parsley and pepper. ENJOY!