Chive and Goat Cheese Stuffed Tomatoes

The morning sunshine inspired this delicious dish, baking while coffee was brewing! The robust flavors of the vegetables are perfectly tempered by the smooth goat cheese and fresh bite of chive.

Embrace the greens! While I used kale and mushrooms as my staple in this dish, it’s a great way to use up any greens that you already have. Having the tomato slowly bake in the oven, the flavors will combine and bring out the goat cheese and chives, so ideally a fairly neutral green works best, as it will absorb the vinegar and garlic. Like a richer dish? Add more cheese!

My love affair with lemon has begun. Full disclosure, I have never been a huge fan of using lemon while cooking. Not that I don’t like it, but to me lemon was always a finishing taste, not something cooked with. While trying to showcase the fresh seasonal herbs and greens, I have been playing with lemon while cooking more often, and find that it really does enhance the overall flavor profile! The subtle hint of acidity tempers the toughness of the kale without coming forward as a prominent taste. The fresh squeeze at the end just pulls everything together!

Showcasing the chives as part of my seasonal ingredient challenge has forced me to think outside of the box. Instead of having an herb be an enhancement to a more dominant vegetable, the use of lemon and balsamic seems to bring out the tender flavor here, making the chive the star. A little char on top of the tomato was the icing on the cake!

Looking for more ways to use chives? Check out other recipes here:

Sautéed Chives with Asparagus and Radish Breakfast Medallions

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Chive and Goat Cheese Stuffed Tomatoes

Hannah

Whether as a morning dish served with fresh eggs, or on a bed of greens for a light lunch, this is a delicious way of incorporating fresh veggies with the creamy flavor of goat cheese and chives.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Course Breakfast, Side Dish

Cuisine French, Italian, Mediterranean

Servings 2

Equipment

• 2 Ramekin Dishes a muffin tin works well too
• Skillet
• Kitchen knife
• Mixing bowl

Ingredients

  

• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 clove Garlic
• 1/2 cup Sliced Mushrooms
• 1 cup Chopped Kale Spinach works well also
• 1 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 large Fresh Tomatoes
• 3 oz Goat Cheese depends on preference and amount of veggies used
• 1/4 juice of a Lemon
• 1/4 cup Chopped Chives

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Wash tomatoes, and using knife, cut a hole in the top and hollow out with a spoon, reserving inside. Place each tomato in a ramekin or muffin tin (to hold upright) and drizzle lightly with olive oil and a pinch of salt. Place in the oven while preparing the filling.
• In heated skillet, add garlic and mushrooms, sautéing slightly, before adding reserved insides of tomatoes (chopped if needed), balsamic, half of the chives, and kale. Combine ingredients, salt and pepper to taste, and place a lid over skillet until kale wilts down and the liquid is mostly gone.
• In a small mixing bowl, combine goat cheese, lemon, and remaining chives.
• Remove tomatoes from oven, spoon in vegetables, layering with goat cheese mixture, saving about 1/4 of the cheese mixture to top at the end, and place back in the oven to bake about 20 minutes, checking occasionally.
• When tomatoes are cooked through and starting to get a pronounced 'skin' on the outside, remove from oven and top with remaining cheese mixture.

  To serve-while baking the stuffed tomatoes, using the skillet, steam additional chives to serve alongside the tomato. As a vegetarian entrée, this dish would be great served over a bed of quinoa!

Keyword Chives, Fresh, Goat Cheese, Healthy, Keto, Tomato, vegetarian