Eggs in a Tomato

Holy moly, people-- this dish is SO good.... I adapted it from a recipe I found in Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine (thank you, Niki, for the subscription!). But it has one tiny flaw, at least when I make it: it's a bit watery. Andrew and I have discussed several ways to sop up some of the liquid (put some tiny croutons or uncooked rice in with the corn?), and I'm interested to see if those will work, so I'm going to try them in the future. What other ideas can we come up with on this blog to make the guts of the recipe less watery?

Ingredients:

4 large, firm tomatoes
Kosher salt
Ground pepper
1/3 cup niblets canned corn
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh chives
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a 9 inch square baking dish (or a pie plate) with parchment paper.

2) Slice off the top 1/2 inch of each tomato with a sharp knife (a serrated knife works well). Use either a spoon, a melon baller, or one of those grapefruit spoons to scoop and carve out the inner ribs and seeds of the tomatoes, creating the tomato version of a bread bowl. Don't break through the outside of the tomato unless you want the egg mixture to leak everywhere! Place tomatoes on the parchment paper in the dish/plate and season well with the Kosher salt and ground pepper.

3) Put 1/4 of the corn in each tomato.

4) Whisk together the eggs and chives, then divide them among the tomatoes. Top each egg mixture with 1/4 of the cheese.

5) Bake until the egg mixture is set (about 45-50 minutes).


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So, there you have it-- a really, really yummy dinner for two people (serve with rice, orzo, or toasted bread), or breakfast for 3 or 4 people. Let me know your ideas to solve the watery-ness problem. Maybe when you make it, it won't turn out watery.... Maybe I'm not scooping out enough of the insides of the tomato? Help! It just goes to show you how yummy this recipe is if I keep making it despite the watery issue.

And here's a gratuitous shot of my bestest little buddy, my daughter:


Sonia already loves scrambled eggs and cheese, so I'm going to see if she likes this next time I make it!