Recipe no. 359 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 175.
Ingredients
- tomatoes
- onions
- bread
- leftover meat
- boiled beef
- veal
- garlic
- parsley
- ham
- salt
- pepper
- nutmeg
- broth
- egg yolks
- oil
- breadcrumbs
Preparation
- Preparing the tomatoesTake ten well-ripened tomatoes, cut away the part attached to the plant, which is most often green and bitter; remove, through this opening, their water and seeds; sprinkle them with salt and turn them upside down on a colander so that the water drains out.
- Preparing the stuffingPut into a saucepan 2 chopped onions, brown them in oil; add 2 chopped tomatoes and let them cook down, then 100 grams of soaked bread and as much leftover meat, preferably boiled beef or veal, after chopping it with 2 cloves of garlic and parsley. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, add a spoonful of broth or gravy, stir for a few minutes over the heat, add 2 or 3 more egg yolks and set aside.
- Stuffing and browningFill your tomatoes with it, place them on an oiled gratin dish, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, drizzle with a few drops of oil and brown in the oven.
Reboul's text
Take ten well-ripened tomatoes, cut away the part attached to the plant, which is most often green and bitter; remove, through this opening, their water and seeds; sprinkle them with salt and turn them upside down on a colander so that the water drains out.
Meanwhile, put into a saucepan 2 chopped onions, brown them in oil; add 2 chopped tomatoes and let them cook down, then 100 grams of soaked bread and as much leftover meat, preferably boiled beef or veal, after chopping it with 2 cloves of garlic and parsley; the meat indicated may be replaced with ham.
Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, add a spoonful of broth or gravy, stir for a few minutes over the heat, add 2 or 3 more egg yolks and set aside. This stuffing should be fairly firm but soft.
Fill your tomatoes with it, place them on an oiled gratin dish, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, drizzle with a few drops of oil and brown in the oven.
For a meatless version, prepare them the same way, leaving out the meat and the broth.
Small Provençal glossary for this recipe
Reboul writes in French: no Provençal word appears in this recipe, apart from the dish's name itself. The table below gives the Provençal equivalents of the words used, in mistralian spelling, translated by Lingua Nostra. Each form is attested in our Provençal-English dictionary; click to open the entry.
| Provençal | English |
|---|---|
| besuscla | to brown |
| reveni | to cook down |
| chapla | to chop |
| atrempa | to soak |
| assaboura | to season |
| rabina | to brown/gratin |
| saupica | to sprinkle |
Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 359, page 175. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.