Never Again

Never again will I try this recipe. Just as a disclaimer, the creamed spinach is, well, amazing. But stuffing it inside of a squishy tomato just had disaster written all over it. Apparently it's a way they used to serve food to make it look fancy back in the 80's. It's an idea that should have gone out of style and stayed there just like the two people I saw wandering around in A&P in leg warmers, jean jackets, and side ponytail yesterday. But seeing as though we are focusing on both the failures and successes of this adventure, here you go. My advice is just to make the creamed spinach and leave the tomatoes alone.

Disaster of the day: Creamed Spinach Stuffed Tomatoes

2 large tomatoes
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 boxes frozen leaf spinach
1 brick cream cheese, brought to room temperature
S&P

Rinse off the tomatoes, then using a fancy v shaped tomato cutter thingy (pictured in the center of the plate)cut the top of the tomato off (pictured on the left). After you do that with one tomato, throw the v shaped cutter thingy across the room, much like I did, and use a sharp knife (pictured on the right). Be careful to not cut your fingers off. Then, use a spoon to scoop out all of the insides. After a while I had gotten so pissed at the tomato that it ripped.

After I did that I made the creamed spinach. Take the spinach out of its packaging and defrost in the microwave. This took about 10 minutes because my microwave needs an attitude adjustment. Let it cool long enough so you can handle it easily, otherwise you will get burned (no surprise with me). Place the spinach in a towel and wring out the water over the sink.

While the spinach is defrosting, heat the olive oil and the butter over medium heat. Add the sliced onions and saute until softened.

Once the spinach is wrung out, add it into the pan. Spread out the spinach so it cooks evenly with the onions.

Add the cream cheese, then cover the pan to allow it to warm through.

After it has cooked for 3-5 minutes, remove the cover and stir to distribute the cream cheese. Add salt and pepper at this point.

Once the spinach is warmed through and the cream cheese is completely melted, turn off the stove. Preheat the oven to 350. Spoon the spinach mixture into the empty tomatoes. I was going to sprinkle the top of the tomatoes with fresh croutons, but I wanted to see how they turned out without the coating first.

Bake the tomatoes in the oven until they are warmed through, which took about 15 minutes. They ended up splitting down the sides after baking and oozing all over the place, even though they were under-ripened when I bought them.

Like I said before, the only way I can think of to improve the recipe is to just eat the spinach (it tastes so good, and its really easy!) and forget the tomato. Another lesson learned.