Spicy Stuffed Tomatoes

We went home from work last night without an idea of what to make for dinner. We’re between grocery shopping trips and have a hodge podge of different ingredients laying around. Little bits of cheese, a stockpile of rice, some tomatoes for sandwiches and dinners…we ran with it. Stuffed tomatoes (or peppers) are nothing new around the foodie blogosphere and now I know why, they are delicious and easy and you can fill them with whatever miscellaneous ingredients you have laying around.

Ingredients:

4 large tomatoes
1 Jalapeno pepper, sliced
1 cup brown basmati rice
1 cup shredded mozzarella
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons sriracha sauce
1 tablespoon basil
2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
salt/pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cook rice according to directions.
3. Spray the inside of a cooking dish with cooking spray. With a serrated knife, cut off the top of each tomato and scoop out the seeds and pulp. Sprinkle the inside of each tomato with a little salt.
4. Stir together the rest of the ingredients (except oil) and combine with finished rice. Stuff the mixture inside each tomato, mounding the tops slightly. Drizzle olive oil over the tops and bake for about 25 minutes.

We made four and each had two, but they’d also be perfect as a side dish. The only thing we wish we would have had was Feta cheese, as a sharper taste would have been a better compliment to the tomato than the mozzarella we had on hand. I definitely think a stuffed pepper night is in our future.