romaine and egg stuffed tomatoes
Eggs. Here’s the thing about eggs. I’m not a super huge fan. People talk about their favorite eggs all the time, and they try to fix me and my lack of tolerance for them.
“You should try just plain scrambled eggs with some shredded Swiss cheese and just a pinch of cayenne. It will cure you!”
“No, no, no, honey, surest thing is to eat them poached. It goes with anything — spaghetti and a poached egg, salad topped with a poached egg, or a poached egg perched on top of a steak, even a poached egg on top of a poached egg! — you really can’t go wrong.”
“How about eggs benedict?”
“Surely you’ve tried Julia’s savory cheese souffle.”
“Perhaps Ina’s herbed baked eggs?”
Ugh. Enough. And that was that. I put eggs out of my mind and didn’t look back.
Until this week. I was browsing through some of Gourmet’s (may it rest in peace) recipes for tomatoes, which do not seem to be lacking even with a history making heat wave. As I browsed page after page I eventually landed on a recipe for a tomato stuffed with pesto and topped with an egg. The first thing to puzzle me was the pesto. Romaine? Does that have enough flavor to carry this dish? It intrigued me. Then I had to try it. I only wavered on the egg. But I decided that the pesto and the tomato should have enough flavor combined to carry the egg and its always lacking flavor.
And that’s what I did. I was surprised at how much flavor the romaine pesto packed, especially with the additions of garlic, parsley and parmesan. But what really took me back was how much I enjoyed the egg. Though far from being the star of the show, I liked the runny yoke and the soft outer edges with a smidgen of melted parmesan on top. It is perhaps a turning point in my opinion of eggs.
Romaine Pesto and Egg-Stuffed Tomatoes
Adapted from Gourmet
Serves 2
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil*
1 large head romaine (about 1 1/2 lb)
1 large garlic clove
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup finely grated parmesan, plus additional for serving
2 large tomatoes
2 large eggs at room temperature
Strip romaine leaves from stems, and chop into 2-inch pieces, you will need about 4 cups of loosely packed leaves. With motor running, add garlic to food processor to finely chop. Turn off and add the 4 cups romaine leaves along with the parsley, salt, and cheese, then pulse until finely chopped. With motor running, add remaining cup oil in a slow stream, blending until incorporated. (Please see note below.)
Put oven rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 400°F.
Cut off about 1/8 inch from top of each tomato with a sharp knife and cut a small sliver off the bottom to prevent your tomatoes from rolling over and dumping out their contents. Gently scrape out pulp and seeds with a spoon and discard them.** Put tomatoes, cut sides up, in a greased glass or ceramic dish and spoon 1 tablespoon romaine pesto into each tomato (you may have some extra pesto). Crack 1 egg into each tomato and season with salt and pepper. Bake eggs in tomatoes until whites are set and yolks are still runny, 18 to 22 minutes. (Meg note: I needed to bake for at least 30 – 40 minutes before my eggs were set. I also had to bake them with the dish covered in foil otherwise my tomatoes got brown around the edges.)
Once out of the oven, sprinkle some parmesan on top and serve.
*I only used about 2 tablespoons of oil total when making the pesto and I found it slightly “wetter” than necessary and noticed it became even more runny after baking. The moisture could be due to the fact that I did not completely dry the romaine after washing or perhaps its suppose to be that way. I just wasn’t fond of the way the pesto came pouring out of the tomato as soon as I cut into it. I would rather it be slightly firmer so I could scoop it up with some tomato.
**To make this easier I cut around the inside edge of the tomato with a pairing knife then cut a vertical and horizontal line through the middle quartering it, which made it much easier to scoop out.
Conversions & Equivalents
Volume | Baking | Metric | Pan Size | Temperature | Oven | Other
1/2 teaspoon
=
30 drops
1 teaspoon
=
1/3 tablespoon OR 60 drops
3 teaspoon
=
1 tablespoon or 1/2 fluid ounce
1/2 tablespoon
=
1 1/2 teaspoons
1 tablespoon
=
3 teaspoons or 1/2 fluid ounce
2 tablespoons
=
1/8 cup or 1 fluid ounce
3 tablespoons
=
1 1/2 fluid ounces
4 tablespoons
=
1 1/4 cup or 2 fluid ounces
5 1/3 tablespoons
=
1/3 cup or 5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon
8 tablespoons
=
1/2 cup or 4 fluid ounces
10 2/3 tablespoons
=
2/3 cup or 10 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons
12 tablespoons
=
3/4 cup or 6 fluid ounces
16 tablespoons
=
1 cup or 8 fluid ounces or 1/2 pint
1/8 cup
=
2 tablespoons or 1 fluid ounce
1/4 cup
=
4 tablespoons or 2 fluid ounces
1/3 cup
=
5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon
3/8 cup
=
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons
1/2 cup
=
8 tablespoons or 4 fluid ounces
2/3 cup
=
10 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons
5/8 cup
=
1/2 cup + 2 teaspoons
3/4 cup
=
12 tablespoons or 6 fluid ounces
7/8 cup
=
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons
1 cup
=
16 tablespoons or 1/2 pint or 8 fluid ounces
2 cups
=
1 pint or 16 fluid ounces
1 pint
=
2 cups or 16 fluid ounces
1 quart
=
2 pints or 4 cups or 32 fluid ounces
1 gallon
=
4 quarts or 8 pints or 16 cups or 128 fluid ounces
FLOUR
1 cup all-purpose flour
=
5 ounces or 142 grams
1 cup cake flour
=
4 ounces or 113 grams
1 cup whole wheat flour
=
5 1/2 ounces or 156 grams
SUGAR
1 cup granulated white sugar
=
7 ounces or 198 grams
1 cup packed brown sugar
=
7 ounces or 198 grams
1 cup confectioners sugar
=
4 ounces or 113 grams
COCOA POWDER
1 cup cocoa powder
=
3 ounces or 85 grams
BUTTER
4 tablespoons
=
1/2 stick or 1/4 cup or 2 ounces
8 tablespoons
=
1 stick or 1/2 cup or 4 ounces
16 tablespoons
=
2 sticks or 1 cup or 8 ounces
32 tablespoons
=
4 sticks or 2 cups or 1 pound
1/4 teaspoon
=
1.23 milliliters
1/2 teaspoon
=
2.46 milliliters
3/4 teaspoon
=
3.7 milliliters
1 teaspoon
=
4.93 milliliters
1 1/4 teaspoon
=
6.16 milliliters
1 1/2 teaspoon
=
7.39 milliliters
1 3/4 teaspoon
=
8.63 milliliters
2 teaspoon
=
9.86 milliliters
1 tablespoon
=
14.79 milliliters
2 tablespoons
=
29.57 milliliters
1/4 cup
=
59.15 milliliters
1/2 cup
=
118.3 milliliters
1 cup
=
236.59 milliliters
2 cups or 1 pint
=
473.18 milliliters
3 cups
=
709.77 milliliters
4 cups or 1 quart
=
946.36 milliliters
1/4 teaspoon
=
1.23 milliliters
4 quarts or 1 gallon
=
3.785 liters
PAN SIZE
VOLUME
CAN SUBSTITUTE WITH
1 8-inch round cake pan
4 cups
1 8x4-inch loaf pan
1 9-inch round cake pan
1 9-inch pie plate
2 8-inch round cake pans
8 cups
2 8x4-inch loaf pans
1 9-inch tube pan
2 9-inch round cake pans
1 10-inch bundt pan
1 11x7-inch baking dish
1 10-inch springform pan
1 9-inch round cake pan
6 cups
1 8-inch round cake pan
1 8x4-inch loaf pan
1 11x7-inch baking dish
2 9-inch round cake pans
12 cups
2 8x4-inch loaf pans
1 9-inch tube pan
2 8-inch round cake pans
1 10-inch bundt pan
2 11x7-inch baking dish
1 10-inch springform pan
1 10-inch round cake pan
11 cups
2 8-inch round cake pan
1 9-inch tube pan
1 10-inch springform pan
2 10-inch round cake pans
22 cups
5 8-inch round cake pans
3 or 4 9-inch round cake pans
2 10-inch spring form pan
9-inch tube pan
12 cups
2 8-inch round cake pans
2 9-inch round cake pans
1 10-inch bundt pan
10-inch tube pans
16 cups
3 9-inch round cake pans
2 10-inch pie plates
4 8-inch pie plates
2 9x5-inch loaf pans
2 8-inch square baking dishes
2 9-inch square baking dishes
10-inch bundt pan
12 cups
1 9x13-inch baking dish
2 9-inch round cake pans
1 9-inch tube pan
2 11x7-inch baking dishes
1 10-inch springform pan
11x7x2-inch baking dish
6 cups
1 8-inch square baking dish
1 9-inch square baking dish
1 9-inch round cake pan
9x13x2-inch baking dish
15 cups
1 10-inch bundt pan
2 9-inch round cake pans
3 8-inch round cake pans
1 10x15-inch jellyroll pan
10x15x1-inch jellyroll pan
15 cups
1 10-inch bundt pan
2 9-inch round cake pans
2 8-inch round cake pan
1 9x13-inch baking dish
9x5-inch loaf pan
8 cups
1 10-inch pie plate pan
1 8-inch square baking dish
1 9-inch square baking dish
8x4-inch loaf pan
6 cups
1 8-inch round cake pan
1 11x7-inch baking dish
9-inch springform pan
10 cups
1 10-inch round cake pan
1 10-inch spring form pan
2 8-inch round cake pans
2 9-inch round cake pans
10-inch springform pan
12 cups
2 8x4-inch loaf pan
1 9-inch tube pan
2 9-inch round cake pans
1 10-inch bundt pan
2 11x7-inch baking dishes
2 8-inch round cake pans
8-inch square baking dish
8 cups
1 9x5-inch loaf pan
2 8-inch pie plates
9-inch square baking dish
8 cups
1 11x7-inch baking dish
1 9x5-inch loaf pan
2 8-inch pie plate
Water Freezes
32°F
0°C
40°F
4.4°C
50°F
10°C
60°F
15.6°C
70°F
21.1°C
80°F
26.7°C
90°F
32.2°C
100°F
37.8°C
110°F
43.3°C
120°F
48.9°C
130°F
54.4°C
140°F
60°C
150°F
65.6°C
160°F
71.1°C
170°F
76.7°C
180°F
82.2°C
190°F
87.8°C
200°F
93.3°C
Water Boils
212°F
100°C
250°F
121°C
300°F
149°C
350°F
177°C
400°F
205°C
450°F
233°C
500°F
260°C
275°F
=
140°C or Gas Mark 1
300°F
=
150°C or Gas Mark 2
325°F
=
165°C or Gas Mark 3
350°F
=
180°C or Gas Mark 4
375°F
=
190°C or Gas Mark 5
400°F
=
200°C or Gas Mark 6
425°F
=
220°C or Gas Mark 7
450°F
=
230°C or Gas Mark 9
475°F
=
240°C or Gas Mark 10
And for conversions that are not listed I found a great conversion calculator here!
Comment Guidelines
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The Good Kind of Comments:
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“may it rest in peace.” love it. I laughed. :)