Spinach- and Ricotta-Stuffed Tomatoes

This fortnight's Cookbook Challenge theme is love. I had some ideas for recipes I could do that had some significant meaning to my relationship with my husband, but instead I decided to go with a tomato recipe. Why tomatoes? Because they used to be known as "love apples" in Europe!

I didn't realize at the time that I chose my recipe that there's actually a shortage in tomatoes right now, so I ended up having to halve the recipe because I couldn't afford to buy eight tomatoes at $2.69 a pound. Luckily this recipe is really easy to halve, and now I have extra spinach in my freezer that I'll probably put in a quiche.

The recipe is from The Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, published in 1982.

8 ripe red tomatoes, the best you can find

salt for draining tomatoes

3 tbsp olive oil

1 cup finely chopped yellow onions

10 ounces frozen spinach, defrosted, drained, and squeezed dry

salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

nutmeg, to taste

1 cup ricotta cheese

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts (see below for toasting instructions)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus additional cheese to top tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley 

To toast pine nuts: Spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet; place in a preheated 400F oven for 5 to 7 minutes. Stir once or twice during baking. Remove immediately when well browned and transfer to a cool plate; otherwise the heat from the baking sheet may cause them to burn.

 

Wash and dry the tomatoes and cut off their tops with a serrated knife. With the handle end of a small spoon, scrape out seeds and partitions, being careful not to pierce the sides of tomatoes. Salt the cavities and set tomatoes upside down on a paper towel to drain for 30 minutes.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet, add the onions and cook, covered, over low heat until tender and lightly colored, about 25 minutes.

Chop the spinach and add it to the skillet. (Yeah right, as if I didn't buy my spinach pre-chopped.) Combine onions and spinach thoroughly, season to taste with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and cover. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Do not let the mixture scorch.

 Beat ricotta and egg yolks together thoroughly in a mixing bowl. Add spinach mixture, pine nuts, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, and the parsley, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Gently blot tomato cavities dry with a paper towel and spoon an equal share of the spinach mixture into each one. Top each tomato with an additional sprinkle of Parmesan.

Arrange tomatoes in a shallow baking dish and set in the upper third of a preheated 350F oven. Bake until tops are well browned and filling is hot and bubbly, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

 

Note:  I don't know if it was because my baking dish wasn't very shallow or if they simply needed more time, but I didn't think the tomatoes baked well enough in only 20 minutes. I was in a hurry (hence the lack of photos) so I didn't try to bake them any longer, but when I reheated a couple of them the following day in the oven, they came out much better. Just make sure the Parmesan on top is definitely browned, and the skin of the tomatoes is fairly wrinkly, and they should be perfect. Either way, the filling tastes fantastic.

Rosemary Raisin Bread

From Better Homes and Gardens: Classic Recipes, published in 2005. This is one of the very few cookbooks I have that was published in the past decade, and it's also one of my very favorites. This will not be the last time I post a recipe from it!

This rosemary raisin bread is the perfect bread to have with breakfast (or as breakfast if you only have time to grab something small). It's savory-sweet, is good toasted or not, and it goes well with other breakfast foods such as eggs.

The recipe makes two loaves, but I always halve the recipe because I only own one loaf pan. It's easy to halve, except it might be a little tricky to cut an egg yolk in half! I suggest getting a little custard cup or condiment bowl and putting the yolk in there, then taking a spoon to scoop out half of it when you need to put it in the batter, and put the other half aside until you need it for the glaze.

6 to 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 packages active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups milk
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp salt
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 cups golden or dark raisins
4 tsp dried rosemary
1 egg yolk, beaten
1 tbsp milk

Prep: 30 minutes
Rise: 75 minutes
Bake: 40 minutes

In a very large mixing bowl stir together 3 cups of the flour and the yeast; set aside. In a medium saucepan heat and stir the 2 1/2 cups milk, the sugar, butter, and salt until warm (120 to 130F) and butter is almost melted. Add warm milk mixture to flour mixture. Add 1 egg yolk; stir until combined.

Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping the side of the bowl constantly. Beat mixture on high speed for 3 minutes more. Sprinkle raisins and rosemary onto flour mixture. 

Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic, about 6 to 8 minutes total. Shape dough into a ball. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl; turn once to grease the surface. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size (about 45 to 60 minutes).

Punch dough down. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough in half. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Lightly grease two 8x4x2-inch or 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Shape each half of the dough into a loaf. Place in prepared pans. Cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly double in size (30 to 40 minutes).

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375F. For the glaze, combine the remaining egg yolk and milk; brush lightly onto tops of risen dough. Using a serrated knife, make a long shallow cut down the length of dough in each pan.
Bake about 40 minutes or until the loaf is golden brown and crusty. The bread should sound hollow when tapped.Cover loosely with foil during the last 10 minutes of baking to prevent overbrowning, if necessary.

Loosen bread and remove from pans immediately. Cool on wire racks.

 

Spicy Fettuccine with Red Peppers & Mushrooms

 

This fortnight's Cookbook Challenge theme is rice/noodles. I decided to go with a pasta dish from 101 Meatless Family Dishes by John Ettinger, published in 1995. Despite the cheesy cover photo, it's actually a really good cookbook. Most vegetarian cookbooks focus too much on tofu and weird products that you can only find at health food stores, whereas this cookbook just has recipes that are delicious and full of vegetable-y goodness. This pasta is just as good as it sounds and looks, if not better.

1 pound fettuccine

4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp chopped fresh oregano or 1/2 tsp dried

3 tomatoes, peeled and chopped with juice or 1 can (28 ounces) with juice

2 tbsp minced fresh Italian parsley

1 bell pepper, seeded and julienned

4 to 5 mushrooms, sliced

grated Parmesan cheese (optional)   

Cook fettuccine according to package directions, drain.

Combine 2 tablespoons olive oil, onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, cayenne and oregano in a saucepan and saute 6 minutes.

Add tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, then stir in parsley.

 Meanwhile, heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet and saute pepper and mushrooms until just softened, 5 to 7 minutes.

Toss pasta with pepper mixture, then with the sauce. Serve with Parmesan if desired.