Method

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Cut the top 1/2 inch from each tomato, reserving the tops.  Using a melon baller or serrated grapefruit spoon, remove the seeds and flesh from the insides, leaving just the tomato shells.  Lightly salt the interior of each tomato.  Drain them upside down on a few layers of paper towels for 15 minutes.

Stir together the goat cheese, mascarpone, milk, chives, thyme, and garlic in a small bowl.  Spoon the mixture into each tomato, top with the reserved tomato "lids," and set in a shallow baking dish.  Bake the tomatoes until tender, about 25 minutes.

While the tomatoes are baking, bring a large pan of salted water to a boil over high heat.  Add the pasta, stirring to separate the strands, and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, until al dente.  While the pasta is cooking, heat the butter and oil in a small skillet over medium heat.  Add the garlic and cook for a few seconds, then add the bread crumbs and continue to cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring often, until lightly toasted.  Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the parsley; set aside.

Drain the pasta well and toss it with the bread crumb mixture in a large bowl.  Divide the pasta among 6 warmed pasta bowls, making a nest in each for a tomato. Sprinkle the pasta with the Parmesan cheese and set the stuffed tomates on top.  Sprinkle the basil over and serve.  Encourage your guests to cut into their tomato right away to allow the cheese to blend with the pasta.

Makes: 6 servings

NOTE: "Every time I make this for family and friends, I smile as I remember all the fantastic meals shared with Lydie Marshall and her husband Wayne. Lydie, who has a wonderful cooking school in Nyons, France, inspired this dish, which I have enjoyed adapting over the years.

Rather than making a tomato sauce for this pasta dish, you stuff fresh tomatoes with a quick and easy blend of cheeses, herbs, and garlic, then roast the tomatoes until they’re tender. Perched on a bed of linguine that’s been tossed with seasoned buttery bread crumbs, the tomatoes and their cheesy stuffing create an instant sauce as your guests cut into them. Because it makes a bit of a delicious mess in doing so, it’s best to serve the dish alone, in a shallow pasta or soup bowl, rather than on the same plate with other items. You can use Boursin in place of some or all of the goat cheese in the stuffing, if you like."  Renée Behnke

Menu Ideas: This is best served as a solo course, whether a light main course with a salad beforehand, or as a precursor to a simple grilled meat entrée, such as rib eye steaks rubbed with minced fresh oregano.

Do-Ahead Tips: The tomatoes can be prepared and stuffed up to 6 hours in advance and refrigerated. They should be baked, and the pasta cooked, just before serving. 

Reprinted with permission from ©Renee Behnke, Memorable Recipes, by Renée Behnke with Cynthia Nims, published by Andrews McMeel click for book review

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