Broiled Asiago Heirloom Tomatoes

Broiled Asiago Heirloom Tomatoes.

August 9, 2011

Whoa whoa whoa… you’re on the right website. I promise.

I know.

This is weird.

Vegetables… like as a meal. Or a snack. Yeah. Snack.

What the what?

I’d never tell you that vegetables would satisfy me as a meal, unless I ate about 800 pounds of them. With cheese and bread crumbs and… sort of like this. All warmed up and melty.

Oh wait. I did that.

And right about now you’re going to tell me ‘but tomatoes are a fruit!’ blahblahblah. Um, let’s have a little talk. Fruit is sweet. You can put fruit in cereal and on ice cream. Are you going to put tomatoes on your cereal and ice cream today? How about you try that and get back to me.

Case closed.

I never really intended to share something like this with you. It’s simple and it grows on a plant and makes appearances in salads and you know… just doesn’t butter my bread. But a few weeks ago, Lori posted her lunch or snack or heck – breakfast for all I know – on instagram and it was some sort of delicious broiled tomatoes with cheese. And I talked to myself because I’m loopy and was all “oh man that looks sort of good… but it’s a vegetable… but it looks like something I want to shove in my face… but it’s a vegetable… but I want it now… but it’s a vegetable…”

And then I wondered if I should shut down my instagram account because all it makes me want to do is eat tons and tons of delicious food and when your job is to make recipes that tend to house a pound of butter and a bucket of sugar, wanting to eat more than you already do is just dangerous. Or something.

But I made it anyway. Because by eating all these vegetables I basically dumped a pocket full of change in my caloric bank which allowed me to eat more cupcakes.

And I ate it more than once. Shhhh. That just translates to more cupcakes.

Oh, and I like heirloom tomatoes because they come in pretty colors and funny shapes that make me laugh, and do not even closely resemble those orange rocks that my grocery store tries to pass off as tomatoes. The only other things I like tomatoes with are crazy caprese stacks with a syrupy balsamic reduction and on pizza with a boatload of cheese. Literally… a boatload. Float it in for me. Oh, and soup! I like tomato soup in which I dip my greasy grilled gruyere cheese into. So yeah… I guess I do like tomatoes. I also dip my grilled cheeses in ketchup [more tomatoes!] but I think I’ve scared you enough for one day. Don’t want to push you outside the circle of trust.

Broiled Asiago Heirloom Tomatoes

inspired by Lori’s lunch via instragam

4 large heirloom tomatoes, sliced

1 cup panko bread crumbs

3/4 cup freshly grated asiago cheese

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

Preheat the broiler on your oven – I set mine to high.

Lay sliced tomatoes in a 9×13 baking dish, overlapping a few if needed. Sprinkle tomatoes with salt and pepper. In a bowl, mix panko, cheese, garlic and parsley with a spoon until combined. Evenly sprinkle panko mix over top of tomatoes. Broil for 2-3 minutes, or just until cheese and crumbs are golden. Watch carefully as the break crumbs can burn quickly! Serve as a summer side dish, a salad starter, or a snack!