Baked Tomatoes with Custard Filling

This is one of the simplest things to make that have never failed to impress. It also allows you to play around with different ways to season the filling as well as different add-ins. Baked tomatoes with custard filling are almost always on the menu when I entertain, especially in the summer when on-the-vine tomatoes are abundant at the farmers' market.


There's no recipe for this, and you shouldn't have to rely on one anyway. All you have to do is slice off the top of each tomato and scoop out the seeds. I think it's pretty to keep the vines in tact. It doesn't matter how many tomatoes come in the same cluster; just keep them all together. But this is not necessary; you can separate the tomatoes and bake them individually as well.

Start off by preheating the oven to 375°F.


Then whisk together some eggs and some cream (about half the amount of eggs) until homogenous. Season the mixture to taste with salt and pepper. Add any fresh or dried herbs (I highly recommend homemade herbes de provence) to taste. You can even add some grated cheese to the custard.

Fill each tomato with the egg mixture. If you run out of the filling, just make more as you need. Tomatoes vary in size and you can never really know the exact capacity of each one.


Gently place the filled tomatoes in a baking dish, arranging them according to how they come on the vine. Put the "lids" on them, matching the tops and bottoms. Strew slices of bacon or prosciutto over the filled tomatoes. Drizzle some olive oil on top, if you'd like.

Then bake them, uncovered, until the tomatoes are slightly charred and the custard is puffy on top and set in the middle. The length of time this requires depends on the number of tomatoes and how big they are. Just check on them every 15 minutes or so.

Let the baked tomatoes sit for 10 minutes before serving.