Happily, tomato season is in full force. The markets are brimming with delicious and beautiful heirlooms and beefsteaks and darling mini tomatoes in their precious little pint containers. I want to take them all home with me each time I go to the market.






Despite this bounty, I am a little taken aback by Mother Nature at the moment. I’d like her to explain to me exactly why, on my first day of newly-graduated-from-bread-school freedom, I’m sitting on my porch in long pants and a hooded sweatshirt clutching a mug of hot coffee for warmth. This was not the summer NYC stay-cation that I had envisioned back in June, when I learned that I would be finishing school before Labor Day. Humph.

The silver lining of this chilly cloud (and let’s not even begin to talk about the inevitable approach of the fall season, because I, for one, am in denial) is that I am swimming in tomatoes and it’s actually cold enough outside for the moment to conceive of using them in winter recipes that I usually can only wish that I had great tomatoes to use. I’m talking savory, melty tomato goodness that, under normal circumstances, I would never, ever want to make in sweltering August.





At first glance, this is a pretty unremarkable recipe, but please, I implore you, do not be fooled by its simplicity. It is important to remember that this dish is all about the tomatoes – the greatest show in town at the moment.





When you take wonderful, farm fresh, beefsteak tomatoes and combine them with the bright flavors of citrus and thyme, then bake them to concentrate and meld the flavors together under a blanket of buttery, homemade hazelnut croutons, what you get is pure heaven on a plate.





It was almost enough to make us delight in the unexpected chill in the air as we ate on our porch last night, determined to squeeze every last drop out of summer flavors, no matter that our tootsies were definitely a little cold in our flip flops. This dish paid homage to summer while warming us from the inside, which was unexpected, but also a bit refreshing.


Baked Tomatoes with Hazelnut Breadcrumbs
Adapted from Gourmet, August 2009

The original recipe calls for 1/2 a stick of butter, which I felt was too much and I opted to use half. You are essentially making croutons in the skillet, so if you find that they are too dry for your tastes, feel free to add additional butter or olive oil. I still got incredible, rich butter flavor. I could not find lemon thyme at the market, so I added the zest of one lemon to compensate for the citrus. It worked like a charm.

serves 6 to 8 people as a side dish

2 cups coarse fresh bread crumbs (from country bread, preferably whole-wheat)

4 to 6 large beefsteak tomatoes (about 3 pounds total)

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped lemon thyme or regular thyme, divided

zest of 1 lemon (if you are unable to fine lemon thyme)

1/4 stick unsalted butter

1 cup toasted hazelnuts (toast in a 350 degree oven for 7 minutes on a cookie sheet), any loose skins rubbed off with a cotton towel, cooled, and coarsely chopped.

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter a 2-quart shallow ceramic or glass baking dish.

Spread bread crumbs in a 4-sided sheet pan and toast in oven until dried and pale golden, about 15 minutes. Cool crumbs. Increase oven temperature to 450°F.

Thickly slice tomatoes and arrange, overlapping, in baking dish. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon thyme, and if you are using the zest, sprinkle with that as well.

Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat, then cook nuts and crumbs, stirring frequently, until golden, 4 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon evenly over tomatoes.

Bake until tomatoes are bubbling and crumbs are browned, 15 to 25 minutes. Cool to warm or room temperature and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 tablespoon thyme.

Cooks’ note: Bread crumbs and nuts can be toasted (but not cooked in butter) 1 day ahead and kept together in an airtight container at room temperature. This dish does not keep well, so cut the recipe if there are less people – the leftovers were too soggy for me to endorse.