Provence-Style Tomatoes with Breadcrumbs and Herbs (Tomates à la Provençale)
If you’re attending a barbecue or outdoor get-together in the thick of Summer in France, there’s a good chance you’ll stumble on these Provence-Style Tomatoes topped with Breadcrumbs and Herbs. Known as “Tomates à la Provençale”, this typical warm-weather dish from Provence calls for fresh, seasonal tomatoes slowly confit’d on the stove-top (meaning they’re slowly cooked in their own juice). The confit tomatoes are then finished off in the oven topped with breadcrumbs, garlic and Herbes de Provence, and cooked until crisp and golden. Like most rustic French recipes, it…
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 1 hr
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 8 tomatoes
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp (45ml) Extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 2 tbsp (25g) sugar
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped finely
- ½ bunch curly parsley, stemmed and chopped finely
- 2 tsp Herbs de Provence
- 1/3 cup breadcrumbs, store-bought or homemade
- 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
- 1
Step 1 – Wash and dry the tomatoes. Cut the “hat” (top part) off of each tomato, discard of the hats and season tomatoes inside with salt.
- 2
Step 2 – Heat 2 tablespoons (30ml) of EVOO in a large skillet over low-medium heat. Place the tomatoes in the skillet (cut-side down) and sprinkle with the sugar. Cook for 35-30 minutes: the tomatoes will first render their juice and shrink in size, and the liquid at the bottom of the pan will slowly evaporate. Every 5-7 minutes, use a spoon to scoop some of the liquid and pour it on top of the tomatoes. Remove from the heat when about half of the liquid is evaporated and the tomatoes are tender, but not mushy yet.
- 3
Pre-heat your oven to 350F (180C) with a rack in the middle.
- 4
Step 3 – In a bowl, combine the chopped garlic cloves, chopped parsley, Herbs de Provence, breadcrumbs and black pepper.
- 5
Step 4 – Carefully flip the tomatoes (using a spatula or two large tablespoons) and top each of them with an equal amount of breadcrumb topping. Drizzle the tomatoes with 1 tablespoon (15ml) of EVOO.
- 6
Step 5 – Place the skillet in the pre-heated oven and bake for 30 minutes, until all the liquid at the bottom of the skillet has evaporated and the topping is golden-brown. If needed, you can finish off the tomatoes with 1 minute under the broiler, to ensure the topping is crispy.