Stuffed Tomatoes with Sausage Meat & Cannellini Beans

This is a really nice Mediterranean dish thats pretty easy to make. I serve this as a starter but it would be equally good as a main, just add some rice or fried potatoes and maybe some steamed vegetables.

Serves 4-6

Prep time 30 mins

Cook time 45 minutes

Ingredients:

6-8 large tomatoes

Stuffing:

2 tbsp oil

2 red onions, finely chopped

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 tin cannellini beans, drained

6 good quality sausages

Small bunch each oregano, sage, thyme, leaves chopped

Zest of one lemon

2 garlic cloves, grated

2 small carrots, finely grated

Salt and pepper

Topping:

50g Cheese, I like Wensleydale but any hard cheese will do

Handful of gluten free breadcrumbs

Extra chopped herbs; thyme, rosemary, oregano all work well.

Salad leaves to serve

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Cut the tops off the tomatoes and carefully dig out the inside and discard. This can be a little fiddly, use a small knife and a teaspoon to get our as much as you can. Arrange tightly in a wide ovenproof dish, ideally with a lid.

2. Put a wide saucepan on a low heat and add a splash of oil. Add the red onion and cook down gently until translucent then transfer to a large clean bowl.

3. Crush the beans. You could do this in a food processor but I prefer to do it by hand, using a fork and crushing against the side of a bowl, as the texture is nicer. Add this to the onion with the tomato puree, chopped herbs, lemon zest, garlic and carrots, plus a large pinch of salt and pepper.

4. Push the sausage meat out of the skins between your fingers and add it to the mix and combine all together with your hands. Stuff the tomatoes really well with the mix, right to the top.

5. Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on the dish if you have it or covered with foil.

6. Finely grate the cheese and mix with the breadcrumbs, chopped herbs and a pinch of salt.

7. Remove the tomatoes from the oven and sprinkle over cheese mix. Put the dish back in the oven for 10-15 minutes for the topping to crisp up.

8. Remove from the oven and serve with a simple green salad.