Cherry Tomato Bake

I’m learning that the cherry tomatoes have to be picked before they crack or else they go bad fast. But with just two plants, they come in faster than a busy person can use them. My neighbor has probably five times more plants than me, and they’re much heartier. She gave me the idea for this recipe. I’ll take a picture of her garden someday – really impressive.

I served this with fresh corn, and afterwards I cut the leftover corn off of the cob and mixed it in with the leftover cherry tomato casserole. I tried it and actually liked it more with the fresh corn mixed in because of the texture. Next time I would cut the corn off of two cobs and mix it in at the end with the tomatoes.  I don’t think the corn needs to be cooked prior to baking otherwise it would get too soft.

This kills me: the grammar check just warned me that “prior to” in the previous sentence is too complex of an expression and I should change it to “before.”  Then wouldn’t “complex expression” be too complex and the warning should just say, “too smart?”  I’m going to err on the side of my readers being able to figure it out since “paradoxical” is on the 6th grade curriculum word list.

Here are some before and after pictures.  And with three minutes to spare I hit my daily deadline of posting to the blog – hurray!!

Cherry Tomato Bake
1 C breadcrumbs
1/4 C chopped fresh parsley
3 T butter
2 grated potatoes (~1C)
½ chopped Vidalia onion (~1 C)
1 shredded zucchini or yellow squash
3 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
2 crushed garlic cloves
1 C grated gruyère cheese
Preheat oven to 400. Mix parsley and breadcrumbs. Melt butter and mix about half of it in the breadcrumb mixture. Add onion and potatoes to remaining butter over medium-high heat for 8-10 minutes until they start to brown. Stir in zucchini and cook 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and garlic and combine thoroughly. Put mixture in sprayed 9” baking dish. Top with shredded cheese and breadcrumb mixture. Bake 30 minutes.