Recipe: Tomatoes a la Provencale (topped with garlic and bread crumbs, baked slowly)

TOMATOES A LA PROVENCALE

"Many recipes for baked tomatoes call for cooking them rather quickly, in a hot oven. The problem with this method is that the tomatoes are left watery. A better method is to cook them slowly and for a long time so that the water they contain evaporates and their flavor concentrates."

4 medium tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, minced and then crushed to a paste
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup bread crumbs (made by working 2 slices slightly stale white bread through a strainer)
Salt and ground black pepper

Stem the tomatoes and cut them in half through their equators. Squeeze out the seeds and set them, cut side up, in a baking dish.

Smear garlic on top of the tomatoes and in the openings. Sprinkle over the parsley and bread crumbs, pressing them into the openings, and slide into the oven. Season with salt and pepper.

Turn the oven to 350 degrees F (there's no need to preheat). Bake for 1 hour, or until the tomatoes look shrunk and wizened (wrinkled). Serve hot or warm.

Makes 4 side-dish servings
Source: Kitchen Simple by James Peterson