You Say Tomato, I Say Stuffed Tomato

With toddler stuffed tomatoes on the left

Tomates farcies au boeuf / Beef Stuffed Tomato 

What happened to the summer? I can't believe it is already gone. I started to write this recipe in June, and here am I finally posting it on the very last day of September. Time flies at the speed of light when you have a family to take care of! 

Fortunately, my tomates farcies or stuffed tomatoes, a summer French family cooking staple, can still be delicious in the fall, especially if you get your tomatoes from a farmer's market. Big, gorgeous tomatoes are perfect to make this dish that has been one of my favorites as long as I can remember. This wonderfully simple recipe is tasty and satisfying, and yet not heavy. And since summer in New York is pretty hot, fall after all seems the perfect time to turn on the oven again. 

At the beginning of summer when the twins were just one-year old, I used some of the ingredients of the tomates farcies to prepare a little purée for the girls, and they liked it—the recipe is below. 

But nowadays, the girls don't like to be spoon-fed anymore; they want to pick the food and pop it into their mouth themselves. It is becoming a bit challenging to serve them balanced meals every day made of finger food. The last time I made tomates farcies, I made a batch of tiny stuffed tomatoes for the girls, and my little gourmets loved it.

BEEF TOMATO PUREE FOR BABY

INGREDIENTS

1/4 lbs organic lean ground beef

1 small shallot

Sprigs of Italian parsley

1 medium size tomato

Olive oil

your favorite cooked rice

IN SHORT

Sauté the chopped shallot in a bit of olive oil until golden, add ground beef and diced peeled tomato. Serve at room temperature mixed with rice. 

IN DETAIL

Peel the tomato: if the tomato is very ripe, you might be able to take off the skin easily; if it is a bit firm, try peeling it with a vegetable peeler; or place in boiling water for a couple of minutes. Remove from water, let it cool down a bit and then take off the skin.

Remove stem end, and dice tomato.

Peel and chop the shallot. Rinse, pat dry and chop the parsley.

Heat a little bit of olive oil in a small non-stick pan. Add the chopped shallot when oil is hot. Sauté until golden. Add ground beef, diced tomato and parley. Mix well, and cook on low heat for about 7-10 minutes, until meat is fully cooked and tomato is tender.

For a smoother purée, blend with a hand blender—my favorite kind of blender because it doesn't generate tons of dishes.

FOR THE PARENTS

INGREDIENTS

3/4 lbs organic lean ground beef

1 egg

3 cloves of garlic

2 shallots

salt and pepper

2 tablespoon of all purpose flour

2 T Olive oil

4 big tomatoes with a flat bottom

1/2 Italian parsley bouquet

1 T salt

pepper

IN SHORT

Mix chopped parley, shallot, garlic with ground beef, beaten egg, flour, salt and pepper. Cut top of tomato, remove flesh and juice from inside and blend them. Place stuffing in tomatoes, pour a bit of blended flesh on top and cover with the tomato top.

IN DETAIL

Preheat oven at 400 F.

Rinse, pat dry and chop parsley. Place in a large bowl. Peel and chop shallots, keep one on the side for later; peel and chop all the garlic cloves, and mix with parsley. Beat one egg and combine with other ingredients. Add ground beef, 2 T of olive oil, salt and pepper and mix well. Then dust with flour and combine.

Cut top of tomatoes to make "hats", put on the side. Remove flesh and juice inside tomatoes with a spoon, or cutting with a knife if the flesh is a little hard, and place in a blender or food processor to purée.

Place remaining shallot in baking pan. Add the tomatoes. Place the stuffing inside the tomatoes. Pour puréed flesh on top of the stuffing, then cover tomatoes with "hats". Drizzle olive oil over the tomatoes, pour 1/2 glass of water in the pan.

Bake for about 30 minutes. 

Serve warm with rice.

TINY STUFFED TOMATOES FOR TODDLER

Same recipes as for the parents, using cherry or mini wine tomatoes. Just add the stuffing mix before adding salt, pepper, and garlic to it, if your baby doesn't eat garlic yet.

No Pink Slime! French Style Ham Purée

Jambon purée for baby, croque-monsieurs for the parents: two staples of French home cooking

There are many different sort of hams in France, but when people talk about ham without being specific, they usually refer to "jambon de Paris", also called "jambon blanc", which means white ham. And yes, it is pink. Called French style ham in the US, jambon blanc is a boiled or cooked ham that has a delicate flavor, very different from the smoky, strong flavors of other cured meat. A lean protein, it does not contain as much salt as other kind of ham, and its texture falls easily apart in the mouth, making it ideal to give to baby. In France, people start giving jambon to babies around 6 month of age, as a purée at first, than as finger food when baby becomes able to pick up food by himself.

In France, jambon is used in various recipes, including the classic hot sandwich called croque-monsieur. When I was a little kid, it was one of my favorite, not only because it is delicious, but also because it is so easy to prepare that my sisters and I would make our own sandwiches, making us feel like little cooks.

FOR BABY

Ingredients

1 big potato

1 thick slice of jambon blanc

1 tablespoon of crème fraîche (in the dairy section of any high-end supermarket)

   or 1 teaspoon of olive oil

In Short

Mix in a food processor a boiled potato, 1 thick slice of French style ham and 1 tablespoon of crème fraîche or a teaspoon of olive oil.

In Detail

Bring some water with no salt to a boil in a pot—jambon does contain some salt, so we definitely don't need extra. 

Rinse, peel, and cut in half the potato. Place it in the pot once the water is boiling, and boil for 30/40 minutes, until it slides off a knife's blade easily. Take out the potato with a skimmer and place it in a food processor. 

Trim off jambon visible fat if there is any, place it into the food processor, with crème fraîche or olive oil and mix. Add a drop of some of the potato cooking water if it is too thick. Serve at room temperature or luke warm.

FOR THE PARENTS

Ingredients For 2 croque-monsieurs

4 slices of your favorite bread

4 thick slices of Jambon blanc

7 oz grated French Gruyere or Swiss cheese 

about 1 tablespoon of butter

Spread butter generously on both sides of each piece of bread. 

Trim off jambon visible fat if there is any. 

Fold 2 slices of ham and place them on a slice of bread. Top with half the cheese, and cover with another slice of bread. Repeat to make the 2nd sandwich.

Place in a toaster until cheese is melted. Serve with a green salad.  

Note: In the traditional croque-monsieur recipe, the sandwiches are actually cooked in a lot of butter in a pan. Nowadays though, I don't know any home cook in France who would do that, but if you order a croque-monsieur in a bistro, you will probably get it done the old-fashion way, with a lot more calories than the in the recipe given here.

Give Your Heart to Baby: Artichoke Purée

Artichoke is one of my favorite vegetables, and it's not only because it is one of the vegetables that provides most antioxidants. Raw, its hardness would never let you expect how tender it becomes once cooked. Its unique subtle flavor and sweetness stays on the tongue and makes a sip of water taste delicious. And it is rewarding. When you patiently eat leaf after leaf, you know that every one you just had brought you closer to the tender, melting heart.

I thought my twin babies could like the sweetness of artichoke, and I was right. This is one of their favorite meal. Here's how I make what my husband calls an artichoke feast for the girls, and for us at the same time.

INGREDIENTS

2 small or 1 big artichoke per person

1 medium potato for one baby

Olive oil

Salt and pepper for the parents

IN SHORT

Purée 1 medium potato and 1 freshly cooked artichoke heart together, add a teaspoon of olive oil and some of the water you used to boil the artichoke to get to the desired consistency.

IN DETAIL

Boil a large and a smaller pot of water with a very little bit of coarse salt in it. You can always add some more in your food, it is just better not to give much to the baby.

Wash the artichoke under running water outside, and inside by letting water get between the leaves from the top.  

Cut the tip of the stems and them cut the stems at the base of the artichoke. Don't discard the stems: it is edible inside with a flavor close to that of the heart.

Remove the one or two first rows of leaves at the base. 

Place the artichokes in boiling water for about 30/40 minutes, depending on how big they are. You will know they are done once they slide off a knife's blade easily. 

In the meantime, rinse the potato and place it in the smaller pot of boiling water. I usually don't peel the potatoes I am going to use as purée: I find it is quicker to take of the skin once they are cooked. Boil for about 30/40 minutes depending on its size.

Once the artichokes are done, place them heads down in a colander to let them drain and cool down a bit, and don't throw away the water: it is full of nutriments, and you'll use it later.

FOR BABY

Take off the leaves of the artichoke and save them for yourself if you feel like it. Carefully peel away the inedible 'choke' on top of the heart and discard it. 

Purée the heart with the potato. Mix in 1 teaspoon of olive oil, and add little by little some of the artichoke water until you reach a smooth and not too runny consistency. 

FOR THE PARENTS

When I prepare artichokes, I serve them warm as an appetizer for us. I like to dip the fleshy base of the leaves in olive oil and salt. In France, artichokes can also be served with a vinaigrette.

When I make this meal for my babies, I usually boil more potatoes. Then, I roast them cut in half, sprinkled with rosemary, thyme, a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper. I serve the potato with a roast chicken, and that takes care of our 2 course dinner.

Coming soon!