Williams Sonoma Williams Sonoma Home Pottery Barn Pottery Barn Teen Pottery Barn Kids West Elm Rejuvenation Mark & Graham GreenRow

Tomatoes à la Provençale

Rated 0 out of 5
Be the first to Write a Review

Marjorie Taylor and Kendall Smith Franchini, the mother-daughter duo behind The Cook’s Atelier cooking school in Burgundy, featured this traditional recipe from Provence in their cookbook French at Heart. Simple and homey, the dish pairs perfectly with a grilled piece of meat or fish in the summer months, when you have an abundance of tomatoes in your garden or, like Marjorie and Kendall, you just can’t help buying up half the stand at your local farmers’ market. (Some people don’t have much self-control in the shoe-buying department. They buy produce.) If you have little bits of hard cheeses like Parmesan lying around—they call them “cheese nubbins”—cut them into pea-size bits and stir them into the persillade (parsley–bread crumb mixture) to turn this into a meal.

Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 60 minutes
Servings 4 to 6

Ingredients

For the tiny torn bread crumbs:

  • 1 small country loaf of levain, about 1 1/4 lb. (455 g)
  • 6 medium heirloom tomatoes, any color, about 2 1/2 lb. (1.1 kg) total, halved across the equator
  • Fleur de sel and freshly ground pepper
  • 6 garlic cloves, peeled but whole
  • Extra-virgin olive oil as needed
  • 1 large bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves (about 3 cups/2 oz./60 g)
  • Leaves from 8 to 10 fresh thyme sprigs
  • 1 1/2 Tbs. salt-packed capers, rinsed, drained and coarsely chopped

Directions

Preheat an oven to 350°F (175°C).

To make the tiny torn bread crumbs, cut the loaf in half and use your hands to tear the inside bread into tiny pieces, about the size of peas. Save the outside to dry out and use for traditional bread crumbs another time. Place the torn bread pieces on a baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, 8 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool before using. This yields about 3 lightly packed cups (3 3/4 oz./115 g) crumbs; you will use all of them for this recipe. Leave the oven on.

Cut the stem off of each tomato top and remove the core (or just some of it—you don’t want a hole in the bottom of the tomatoes when you fill them) as needed. Using your fingers or the end of a teaspoon, gently remove most of the seeds from the tomato halves without changing their shape.

Place the tomatoes, cut side up, on a baking sheet and sprinkle liberally with salt. Bake until you can see the tomatoes beginning to release liquid and soften slightly, about 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and turn the tomatoes upside down on a wire rack set over a baking sheet to release their extra juices while you make the persillade mixture. Leave the oven on.

Smash and use one of the garlic cloves to rub the inside of a large gratin dish (or similar baking dish). Drizzle the dish with olive oil, using your hands to coat the bottom and sides. Using a sharp knife or mezzaluna, finely chop the parsley and remaining garlic. In a medium bowl, combine the parsley-garlic mixture, thyme, capers and bread crumbs. Season the persillade mixture with salt and pepper, drizzle with about 1/4 cup (2 fl. oz./60 ml) olive oil and toss to coat all the bread crumbs evenly.

Place the drained tomatoes, cut side up, in the prepared gratin dish. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Fill and cover each tomato with the persillade mixture so you don’t see any of the tomato inside.

Return to the oven and bake until the tomatoes are nicely roasted and the persillade is crisp, 35 to 40 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature. Serves 4 to 6.

Adapted from French at Heart by Marjorie Taylor and Kendall Smith Franchini (Abrams Books, 2025)

  • bvseo_sdk, java_sdk, bvseo-4.0.0
  • CLOUD, getReviews, 32ms
  • REVIEWS, PRODUCT
  • bvseo-msg: The resource to the URL or file is currently unavailable.;