This seasoned cheesy broiled tomatoes recipe is a taste of summer on a plate.
One the many things we love about summer is the fresh vegetables and flowers the season brings to the table.
When word gets out our favorite fresh vegetable vendor has homegrown tomatoes in stock, it’s time to place a call to my brother who lives closer to the stand located about 10 miles from our house.
As long as I’m making and sharing with him a dish, sandwich, or burgers with fresh tomato slices or dices in the mix he’s happy to oblige.
Fresh sunflowers, squash, and eggplant accompanied this latest tomato haul- a bit of Louisiana lagniappe.
Crazy is the word of the week here at Places In The Home.
I’ve been crazy busy tying up loose ends before Dave the Builder’s upcoming heart procedures.
In all the planning, packing, and pre-admit madness remains the fact you still gotta eat, and homegrown tomatoes at room temperature, which is the way we like our tomatoes, will ruin if left unrefrigerated for too long.
As delicious as a homemade hamburger and a tomato sandwich is, I was looking for a something on plate.
Something on a plate is a Places In The Home family term.
Credit goes to Dave the builder for taking a commonly used phrase into colloquial territory.
Here’s how it came to be:
My mother-in-law took a day off from work to finish sewing junior prom dresses for Dave’s fifteen-year-old identical twin sisters.
That’s two times the daughters, two times the junior prom dress fun. To say she had a lot on her plate is an understatement.
Dave is eight years younger than his sisters, the baby of the family, and on this particular day was underfoot more than normal.
Parents in Covid quarantine know exactly what I’m talking about.
Dave set in asking his mother to fix him something for lunch. Her promise of just one more minute and I’ll fix you a sandwich was met with Dave’s verbal protest.
“I don’t want a sandwich. I want something on a plate.”
Dave wasn’t having any part of the simple sandwich solution to lunch. What he wanted was a salad-meat-vegetables-bread something on a plate lunch.
A quick inventory of cupboard and crisper coupled with the memory of the fabulously delicious broiled tomato served at Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab brought about recipe inspiration.
Easy is the key ingredient of this seasoned cheesy broiled tomatoes recipe.
Seasoned Cheesy Broiled Tomatoes Recipe
Ingredients
3 fresh tomatoes, halved
3 cups shredded mild cheddar & Monterey Jack cheese
salt & pepper taste
1½ teaspoons garlic powder
olive oil
3 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese
6 Tablespoons bread crumbs; optional
Directions
Preheat oven to 400° F.
Rinse tomatoes and pat dry. Cut tomatoes in half and place cut side up in baking dish.
Salt and pepper each tomato to preference. Sprinkle ¼ teaspoon garlic powder over top of each tomato.
Top each half with ½ cup shredded cheddar & Monterey Jack cheese.
Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the cheddar & Monterey Jack.
An optional choice is to top each tomato half with bread crumbs.
Give each cheese-bread crumbs topped tomato half a lightly drizzle of olive oil.
Place baking dish in preheated oven and bake cheese topped tomatoes for 8 to 10 minutes.
Turn oven to broil.
Broil tomatoes for 2 to 3 minutes or until cheese-bread crumbs is toasty brown.
The above image is of the seasoned cheesy broiled tomato, and the image below is of a seasoned cheesy broiled tomato topped with bread crumbs.
Toasty brown puts just the right amount of crisp on top.
This seasoned cheesy broiled tomatoes recipe makes for a great side dish to grilled steaks, appetizers at the cocktail hour, or dinner entrée.
