Baked stuffed tomatoes

Ingredients

6 slices bacon
6 medium tomatoes
85g (3 oz) chopped green pepper
4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
50g (2 oz) croutons
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
6 sprigs parsley

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas mark 4. Grease an 18x28cm (7x11 in) baking dish.
2. Place bacon in a large, deep frying pan. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain off fat, dice and set aside.
3. While bacon is cooking, wash tomatoes and slice off stem ends. Gently scoop out pulp, leaving a 2cm deep wall. Finely chop pulp and place one third of it in a medium bowl. Discard remaining pulp, or reserve for another use.
4. Stir bacon, green pepper, Parmesan, croutons, salt and pepper into tomato pulp. Spoon an equal amount of mixture into each hollowed out tomato. Place stuffed tomatoes into prepared baking dish.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until heated through. Garnish with parsley sprigs.

Tip:

This is such a versatile dish - serve for breakfast with scrambled eggs, for lunch with a crisp green salad, or as a starter.