Grilled Romas

By Katherine

I’m melting into a pile of tasty cheese

Each year we go through the same song and dance when it comes to choosing the tomatoes  for the garden. I say Early Girl; he says Roma. I say Big Boy; he says Roma. I say cherry; he says Roma. Heirloom? Pink? Black?

Roma. Roma. Roma.

We end up with a few eating tomatoes and gobs of Romas. They’re hearty little buggers that can take the heat, so they do well here. They’re great for cooking and canning. But when I want a BLT or to eat a tomato right off the vine, Romas aren’t my first choice. They don’t make bruschetta or pico de gallo sing.

But boy do they taste like magic with a little heat on their underbellies and olive oil on top. This recipe really brings out the sweetness of the tomatoes. It’s like pizza without the crust. The measurements are approximate because not all tomatoes are created equal.

Grilled Romas

• 8 Roma tomatoes, split in half length-wise, seeds removed (see note below)
• 3-4 tbsp chopped fresh herbs
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 3/4 to 1 cup shredded cheese, such as cheddar, mozzarella or fontina
• salt/pepper to taste

Fire up the grill. Wash the tomatoes and lay them flat on the cutting board. Cut them in half lengthwise, parallel to the cutting board. (This will ensure they’ll lay flat on the grill.) Scoop out the seeds and reserve. (Throw them in pico or salsa or soup. We used ours in guacamole.) In a small bowl, mix a bit of salt, pepper, the herbs (we used only oregano) and oil. Spread a thin layer of the mixture on the inside of each tomato. Top with cheese. Place directly on the grill or on a sheet of foil drizzled with oil. Cook over direct heat until cheese is melted and tomatoes are tender, about five minutes. Crack more pepper on each if desired and serve immediately.

Around the blogsphere: We’re featuring tomato recipes all this week and we figured we’d take a cue from today’s recipe and highlight ones that paired tomatoes and cheese.

Here’s one that caught our eye on another site recently: the to-die-for savory cherry tomato clafoutis over at Cook Eat Live Vegetarian. They have goat cheese, basil and zucchini blossoms. (Yes Natalie, we totally Americanized that. Please forgive us.) Geni over at Sweet & Crumby has amazing recipes for tomato jam and cheddar chive biscuits.

We also love the pesto, tomato and mozzarella pizza over at Frugal Feeding AND the grilled pizza with fire-roasted tomatoes over at Mon Food Blog.

And here’s a stuffed tomato dish we made last year after seeing the recipe on Camerahols/Food Photography & France:

Roasted cheesy goodness

More from the archives: One of our favorite ways to stuff eggplant:

Slice the eggplant as thin as you desire

And if you must make mac and cheese in the summer, top it with tomatoes:

Ground sausage is a good addition as well