Farmer's Market Friday: Tomatoes

Farmer's Market tomatoes are kind of like the thunderstorms of late summer. Towards the end of July, you start seeing a few of them trickle onto the tables of your market purveyors. A week later, the tomatoes get a little bigger and redder, the piles of vegetables a little larger. Then, instantly, a thunderclap of tomatoes rains down on the market. Come late August and early September, everyone is practically drowning in tomatoes.

Which isn't such a bad thing, considering the tomatoes you can buy this time of year are infinatently better than their winter counterparts - juicy and lush and bursting with fresh flavor. But, like a refreshing summer thunderstorm, the tomato season comes on quickly - and is gone before you know it. So enjoy these beauties while you can!

The recipe below is an easy way to use up some of the larger tomatoes you may have sitting around the house.

Greek Stuffed Tomatoes

4 large tomatoes
2 T. scallions, finely chopped
2 T. fresh parsley, finely chopped
4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 c. breadcrumbs
2 T. olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut off the very top of the tomatoes. Using a spoon or ice cream scoop, carefully scoop out pulp and seeds. Discard seeds. Coarsely chop pulp and place in a small bowl. Add scallions, parsley, feta, bread crumbs, and olive oil; stirring to combine. Spoon mixture into the hollowed out tomatoes. Place tomatoes right side up in a 8x8 baking dish and bake for 15 minutes. Serve steaming hot.