Sausage and basil stuffed tomatoes

Sausage and Basil stuffed tomatoes

This recipe I found from The Food Network's magazine July/August issue, it is also on the website.  I thought it sounded pretty good but it tasted even better!  Even Ross who is usually picking tomatoes off things liked this dish!  I recommend this for any night it's easy to make and taste amazing!  I omitted a few things from the recipe, like walnuts and celery, I also used regular breadcrumbs instead of the bread cubes and it worked out great.

Sausage and basil stuffed tomatoes

Recipe from Food Network.com

Ingredients

• 8 medium tomatoes, preferably with stems intact
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 3/4 pound luganega or sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1 small green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 2 cups bread cubes (from about 1/2 baguette)
• 1 cup fresh basil
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Using a serrated knife, slice off the top quarter of each tomato and reserve the tops. Scoop out the pulp from inside each tomato and transfer it to a food processor. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and the cayenne to the food processor and process until smooth; pour into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage, , bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Cook, stirring, until the sausage browns, about 5 minutes. Transfer the sausage mixture and bread cubes to the food processor and pulse until chopped. Pack the tomatoes with the sausage-bread mixture so the stuffing is domed on top. Put the stuffed tomatoes in the baking dish on top of the sauce.

Place the basil, walnuts, cheese and celery leaves in the food processor and chop. Sprinkle onto the tomatoes. Put the tomato tops, cut-side down, between the stuffed tomatoes. Bake until the stuffing is golden, about 20 minutes. Cover each tomato with a top and serve with the sauce.