Gratinéed Tomatoes with Herbs

I somehow ended up with lots of tomatoes in my fridge. Every time I went to the grocery store, I forgot I already had some at home and bought more. I made lots of salads and managed to make a dent in the tomato stash, but I needed to find a dish that would use up a majority of them. I didn't have quite enough to make scalloped tomatoes, so this recipe looked like the perfect solution to my tomato problem. When I made this dish, I made 2 dishes with the nicely cut slices of tomatoes and a couple personal sized ones with the reject bits and pieces. The both turned out great, but the personal ones weren't as nicely laid out. You could definitely make individual ramekins of this dish if you prefer that look.

The original recipe calls for Asiago cheese, which I could not find in my teeny, tiny grocery store. I substituted freshly grated Parmesan cheese and was really pleased with the result. Use whichever cheese you prefer or can find in your local grocery store. I also used less tomatoes but the same amount of cheese and breadcrumb topping since I love having a thick layer of it on my tomatoes. I'll post the recipe as intended, but feel free to increase the amount of topping on your tomatoes if you're also obsessed with it. I also did not use beefsteak tomatoes since I didn't have any in my stockpile. Instead I used 6 vine-ripe tomatoes. As you can see, you can really play around with this recipe and end up with a great side dish.

Recipe from Fine Cooking
Serves 6

3 beefsteak tomatoes (6 oz. each), sliced 1/4" thick
salt and pepper
1/4 cup coarse fresh bread crumbs
1/4 cup finely grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 teaspoon chopped thyme
2 teaspoons olive oil, plus a little more for drizzling

Position your oven rack 6 inches from the heat source and turn your broiler on high. Lightly oil a 10"x 12" baking form. Lay the tomato sliced in the baking dish in a single layer just so they are slightly overlapping. Sprinkle them with 1/4 teaspoon salt.

In a bowl combine the breadcrumbs, cheese, parsley, thyme, oil, a pinch of salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Sprinkle this mixture over the tomatoes as evenly as you can.

Broil until the breadcrumbs are golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from oven and drizzle some more oil over the tomatoes. Serve hot. Pin It Now!