Baked Eggs in Tomatoes

Whenever I see a recipe on a blog or in a magazine, I will clip or print it and put it my recipe binder to try at a later date.  Often times though, I don't get around to making this recipes as quickly as I'd like.  As a result, my recipe binder gets overstuffed until I'm reminded to go digging through it again.  When Jen recently wrote about her Baked Egg in Tomato dish, I remembered clipping a similar recipe from Everyday Food over a year ago and I decided to finally give it a try!

First, I preheated the oven to 350 degrees while I gathered my ingredients.  I adapted the original recipe a bit based on the ingredients I had on hand and cut the recipe in half for two servings.

• 2 firm, large tomatoes


• Salt and ground pepper, to taste


• 1/4 cup fresh corn kernels


• 2 large eggs


• 2 teaspoons cilantro paste


• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese


• 1/4 shredded mozzarella cheese

While I lined a small baking dish with parchment paper, Bret stripped the fresh corn kernels from the cob.

Using a serrated knife, I gently cut the tops off the tomatoes.  With a spoon, we scooped out the inside of each tomato carefully to not cut through the outer flesh and skin of the tomatoes.  I also turned the tomatoes upside down to help drain some of the juices.

I whisked together the eggs, cilantro, mozzarella, salt and pepper in a small bowl.

I then put in about a quarter of the corn kernels into each tomato.

I divided the egg mixture into the two tomatoes and topped the egg mixture with the remaining corn.

Finally, I sprinkled the egg mixture with the grated Parmesan cheese.

The tomatoes went into the oven for about fifty minutes and then they were ready to serve!

This is a perfect summer brunch dish with the tomatoes and the fresh corn!  While this could be really eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner, we ate ours at brunch with a small toasted bagel and a side of crispy bacon.

This made the perfect hearty Sunday brunch as we watched the rain and wind from Hurricane Irene. 

Alma Nove, Hingham, Mass.

Wedding dress shopping trip No. 2 happened the weekend after the trek to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. My mom, sister (Martyann), and matron of honor (Liz) were all already venturing up from Connecticut, so I thought it would be good to stay somewhat local and check out a shop in Hingham, Mass., where my friend who got married in July found her gorgeous dress.



The dress shop was very cute but disappointing after my trip to Portsmouth. Instead of having dresses brought to me, I was supposed to grab dresses off the rack that I wanted to try on. I wasn't a huge fan of this system after seeing how well it worked the other way. I also ended up trying on dresses that were over my budget (luckily, I didn't like any of them more than the dresses that were in my budget). I would see my mom, Martyann, and Liz get excited over a particular dress, but I kept thinking about the dresses in Portsmouth.



After my appointment, I filled them in on how I was feeling about the dresses at this shop compared to the ones in Portsmouth and apologized for not just having everyone go to Portsmouth that day. Rather than let the day be a total waste, we all decided to go out to lunch. We weren't far from the Hingham Shipyard and I had been hearing a lot about Alma Nove, so I suggested we go there.



Alma Nove was founded by Executive Chef Paul Wahlberg and co-owners/brothers Mark and Donnie Wahlberg (yes, that Mark and that Donnie), as well as family friend Ed St. Croix. It was named after the Wahlbergs' mother Alma, who had nine (nove) children. The restaurant is right on the water and has lots of large glass windows, allowing for great views and tons of light. (I didn't see it, but there's also a patio area overlooking the water.) The cuisine is inspired by Italy and the Mediterranean and features specialty pastas, fresh seafood, and a wood-burning grill.



Alma Nove offers pitchers of some of their cocktails (I've been noticing this more and more at restaurants and am hoping it's a trend that's going to stick around), so my mom, Liz, and I shared one. The pitcher gave us one drink each with a little to spare. We tried the Cape Stoddard, which is a mixture of Double Cross Vodka, St-Germain, and Spindrift sparkling cranberry raspberry soda.

For appetizers we opted to share the Mediterranean chop salad and the beef carpaccio. The salad was full of tomatoes, cucumbers, kalamata olives, sweet onions, red peppers, feta, preserved lemon, and olive oil. The veggies were crisp and crunchy, and I loved how the feta coated every bit of the salad.

The wagyu beef carpaccio was very thinly sliced and topped with hearts of palm, a little arugula, and some fabulous fried capers. I kept scooping extra capers up with my beef.

I was all over the place trying to decide on an entree, but I finally chose the mafaldi with Italian sausage, roasted eggplant, fresh mozzarella, and tomato basil sauce. Mafaldi is one of my favorite pasta shapes -- it's like a skinny lasagna noodle with curly edges. I was so happy with my lunch choice. The sweet tomato sauce paired perfectly with the eggplant and sausage, and the melted mozzarella pulled the whole dish together.

My mom also chose a pasta dish. Hers was a creamy carbonara-style dish made with basil linguine topped with sautéed lobster, sweet peas, and pancetta. The basil linguine was mildly flavored and not overwhelming.

My sister and Liz both got the wood-grilled sirloin burgers with homemade pickles and fries.

None of us had room for dessert, but my mom did try a Strawberry Basil Martini -- made with Hendrick's Gin, muddled strawberry, and basil. I found the drink a bit too strong for my tastes, but I thought the presentation was beautiful.

Lunch at Alma Nove was a great way to end our girls' day out. Even though I didn't find my dress that day, we still had a great visit and some fabulous food.







Have you been to Alma Nove yet?

Fudge Puddles - My New Favorite Cookie

When I was a child I loved Stella D'oro Swiss Fudge Cookies. Nanny used to buy them for me and she didn't even mind when I used a spoon to scoop out the fudge part and leave the cookie part behind.  Not sure I would have gotten away with it if my parents knew she let me do that.  As I got older I started eating the whole cookie but ate my way around the fudge and then ate the center.  I guess it was the whole save the best for last idea.  I still love those cookies and will always think of my grandmother when I eat anything made by Stella D'oro.  When I saw these Fudge Puddles posted on Sunday Baker they immediately reminded me of those childhood favorites because they had a fudge center.  Of course, they don't taste the same.  In fact, they just might be better.  They are chewy and fudgy wth a hint of peanut butter.  I could eat them by the dozen. I just need to work on getting the fudge in the center neatly. You have got to try them and let me know what you think.  Be sure to stop by Sunday Baker and say hello to Tanya.  She has lots of great recipes for you to try!  She recently made a Parmesan Butternut Squash Soup that I can't wait to try!

The fudge part of this recipe is enough to fill a double batch of the cookie recipe.  Tanya said the leftover fudge is great warmed up and drizzled on ice cream.

Fudge Puddles

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

For the cookie shell: 

1/2 c. butter, softened

1/2 c. creamy peanut butter

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 t. vanilla extract

1-1/4 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

For the fudge filling:

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 c. butterscotch chips

1-14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1 t. vanilla

chopped nuts or sprinkles(optional)

Directions:

1. In a large mixer bowl, combine butter, peanut butter, and both sugars. Beat in egg and vanilla.

2. Next, in a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add flour mix. to the creamy mixture.

3. Chill in the fridge for at least one hour (or if you're impatient like me, in the freezer for about 15 minutes). Remove from fridge and form into 1" balls. Grease a mini-muffin pan and add 1 ball to each muffin cup.

4 .Bake in a 325 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until very lightly browned. Remove from oven and make an indentation in the center of each ball.

5.Let them cool in the pan for at least 5 minutes and then move to a cooling rack. Once all of the cookies are done baking, it's time to make the fudge filling.

6. In a microwave safe bowl or saucepan, combine all of the ingredients except the nuts/sprinkles. Microwave for 1 minutes. Stir well. If there are still unmelted chips, continue to melt in microwave for 15 second increments until all smooth. Immediately start filling the cookie cups with the filling. It will start to harden just a bit as you do it, so make sure to give it a good stir once in awhile. Sprinkle with the nuts or just leave plain. Let set for an hour or so.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe.