Back in October Joseph started a fun game he titled "Weekend Challenge". It's a kind of theoretical Iron Chef, if you will. In the second episode, I entered a recipe for stuffed tomatoes and let me tell you, they sounded good. Really good. Ever since then I've wanted to actually try it out and see if it turned out as well as I hoped. Tonight I finally had a chance to test it out. Keep in mind that the following recipe is what I did make, but not necessarily what it will become. Stay tuned for a more thorough treatment.

Cream Cheese Stuffed Tomatoes

• 4 large slicing tomotoes
• 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 4 ounces ground sausage
• 3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• basil
• parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup finely diced onion
• 1/4 cup finely diced green pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, finely diced or pressed

Remove the top from each of the tomatoes. Remove the guts. Place in a non-reactive pan and roast at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, brown and drain the sausage. Saute the onion, pepper and garlic in a little of the sausage fat, if desired. Remove from heat. Add the cream cheese and mozzarella cheese and mix well. Season with basil and possibly salt to taste.

Spoon the cheese mixture into the tomato bowls. Top with generous portions of bacon bits and parmesan cheese. Return the tomatoes to the oven and cook 5 more minutes. Then crank up the broiler to put a little brown on the cheese.

Notes

1. The taste was quite good. I enjoyed it immensely. I mean, how can you go wrong with sausage, bacon and cream cheese? I'm salivating just thinking back on it.
2. I got the tomatoes roasted just about right. They should be soft but with not mushy. The crunch of the bacon and crispy parmesan contrasted nicely with the soft cheese and tomatoes.
3. The tomatoes paired well with a sun-dried tomato bread, which I also made.

And now the bad.

1. The sausage was barely noticeable. The quantity should have been at least double.
2. The cheese was delicious but maybe too soft. My wife's stuffed pepper recipe uses rice for this purpose. I think rice doesn't fit quite right for this one. She suggested bread crumbs. I'm thinking of toasting them.
3. I didn't remove enough of the tomatoes, especially along the bottom. Alton Brown recommends using a grapefruit spoon and that seems to be a pretty good idea.