Sarah Leah Chase's Scalloped Tomatoes
Share
- ✉
-
Author Notes: This recipe is mostly tomatoes, just warmed up and sharpened with a little garlic and basil, with just enough bread tossed in to sop up the juices. And some cheese on top, because cheese is always good on top. Merrill called it "hot panzanella". Adapted slightly from Cold Weather Cooking (Workman Publishing Company, 1990) - Genius Recipes
Serves 6
- 3 tablespoons bacon fat (or olive oil)
- 2 cups (1/2-inch diced) French bread, preferably a crusty baguette
- 16 plum tomatoes, cut 1/2-inch dice, about 2 1/2 pounds (use the best tomatoes you can find -- beefsteak will be juicier)
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
- 2 tablespoons sugar (optional -- we skipped it)
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup julienned basil leaves, lightly packed
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Heat the bacon fat in a large (12 inch) saute pan over medium heat. Add the bread cubes and stir to coat with the oil. Cook over medium to medium-high heat for 5 minutes, stirring often, until the cubes are evenly browned. Add the tomatoes, garlic and sugar to then pan and continue to cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, add the basil and remove from the heat.
- Pour the tomato mixture into a shallow (6 to 8 cup) baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with the Parmesan cheese and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the top is browned and the tomatoes are bubbly. Serve hot or warm.
- This recipe is a Community Pick!
More Great Recipes
Share a Recipe
Enter one of our contests, or share that great thing you made for dinner last night.
Add a Recipe
4 months ago Jeba Bowers Murphy
I made this the other day. Put it in my tuna sandwich...It was perfect
7 months ago Skinny bitches
This dish is so amazing and flavorful! I did not have bacon in hand, so I used 3 Tablespoon of butter. My entire apartment smelt heavenly as I was toasting the bread in the butter. This dish is definitely a keeper. Thank you genius recipe for sharing!
7 months ago Harvest Queen
I've made this a couple of times, with great success. It's a great way to use up end of season tomatoes. I don't buy croutons, so chopped up another tablespoon of garlic and added it with the bread. Crusty bread is crucial. Otherwise it gets too soggy. I cooked half a package of bacon, used the fat, then put half slices on top of the dish before it went in the oven. Each serving had it's own slice. It looks lovely and tastes great. A keeper!
8 months ago lindamettler
Absolutely delicious! So happy to find a tomato dish that doesn't require onions and still has a wonderful flavor.
9 months ago aziobro
What a delicious recipe - a bumper crop of tomatoes never so a recipe so good ! I used a melange of ripe heirlooms, yellow and cherry tomatoes - just so satisfying.
9 months ago Kannada
This was just awesome. Can't wait to get more tomatoes at the farmers market & do it all again!
9 months ago Kannada
This was just awesome. Can't wait to get more tomatoes at the farmers market & do it all again!
9 months ago Kannada
This was just awesome. Can't wait to get more tomatoes at the farmers market & do it all again!
9 months ago Kannada
This was just awesome. Can't wait to get more tomatoes at the farmers market & do it all again!
9 months ago sbf-ct
D-E-L-I-S-H-I-O-U-S!!!!!!!!! This is a fantastic way to enjoy a bountiful tomato crop.. I had about 20 more than I could handle, freshfrom my mother-n-law's garden and just couldn't let them go to waste. I had olive bread on hand that was just a day before too hard to eat... it made the dish a touch briny, much to my pleasure! Great recipe. Thanks for sharing!
9 months ago Nutmegna
OMYG - oh my yummily goodness - just made this and it is amazing!!!
9 months ago helena33
What do you think about freezing this? Before or after baking? Just picked up 25 lbs of tomatoes at the farmers market and want to freeze some version of tomato pie...
9 months ago Kristen Miglore
Kristen is the Senior Editor of Food52
I think I'd freeze it after baking. 25 pounds! I hope you're making some Marcella sauce too: http://www.food52.com/recipes...
9 months ago nasreenSeattle
I made this last night for a dinner with friends - served with some pan fried cod and wine. It was delicious and quite healthy. I made this with olive oil and without sugar, and used Roma tomatoes. It was wonderfully easy to make and will likely make an appearance on our table every summer from now on.
10 months ago Amy Doyle
I made this last night with local tomatoes from our farmers market. I didn't think to ask what kind, they were just nice and big and ripe. I didn't have bacon, so used olive oil. I also skipped the sugar. I think next time I will cut back on the salt, but otherwise it was fabulous. I just polished off the leftovers as lunch. Yum!
10 months ago aimeebama
Wow. We just couldn't stop eating this. Amazing and so simple. No complaints at our house about seeds or skin. Texture, taste, smell, look-- everything outstanding.
10 months ago JulieBee
You say tomato, I say tasty!
This was so yummy. It reminded me of a gorgeous tomato bread soup I ate in Florence years ago.
Tremendously easy and delicious.
10 months ago minissimus
This was quite tasty. I made it with beefsteak tomatoes (McAdams farm didn't have any plums or romas today), and I think it would have been better had I cored and seeded the tomatoes--it was a little wetter than I think it should have been, and the bread broke down a bit. Big hit nonetheless. Will definitely make it again. I think it would be excellent in the winter made with those grape tomatoes that have appeared in the past few years that actually have some flavor in the off season.
10 months ago 5SHWPG
Can I substitute duck fat for bacon fat?
10 months ago ChezShea
Do both and test the difference
10 months ago Kristen Miglore
Kristen is the Senior Editor of Food52
I think duck fat would be fantastic here.
10 months ago Karo
The tomatoes should have been peeled. If you look closely, you can see bits of skin rolled up in the finished project. In my mouth, those would certainly get caught between my teeth.
10 months ago Kristen Miglore
Kristen is the Senior Editor of Food52
Both Chase's original recipe and the adapted Ina Garten version skip peeling the tomatoes so we did too -- we're lazy! And we don't mind the peels. If you prefer peeling, go for it.
10 months ago lksugarman
Wow, this brings back childhood memories. Two things my mother used to do with stale bread (and it could be rock hard! she never threw away a crust!) was make bread pudding and scalloped tomatoes. Nothing fancy. She used her own home-canned tomatoes, butter, stale bread that had been soaked in water, I think, and a little seasoning, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Great on a cold winter's night!