Skip to main content
Main

Sicilian Stuffed Tomatoes

Sicilian stuffed tomatoes are tomatoes filled with a macaroni, cheese, and butter mixture, topped with bread crumbs and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Sicilian Stuffed Tomatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Wash the tomatoes and cut a slice from the stem end.

  2. Remove the seeds using the handle of a small spoon without breaking the tomato.

  3. Sprinkle the inside of each tomato with salt and pepper.

Fill and bake

  1. In a bowl, mix the macaroni, cheese, melted butter, and paprika.

  2. Fill the tomatoes with the macaroni mixture.

  3. Top with a thin layer of buttered bread crumbs.

  4. Bake in a brisk oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,013 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Act as the edible shell that holds the filling and softens as it bakes.
Macaroni
Provides the bulk and chewy texture of the filling.
Cheese
Melts into the filling, adding richness and binding the macaroni together.
Butter
Adds fat and richness and helps the bread crumbs brown.
Bread crumbs
Form a golden, crisp topping through browning in the oven.

The step that matters

Remove the seeds without breaking the tomato. A torn tomato wall cannot hold the filling and may collapse in the oven. Scooping gently with a small spoon keeps the shell intact and sturdy enough to bake.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, cheese, butter, bread):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Tomatothe original
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Mustardfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, cheese, butter, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipesMacaroni and CheeseMacaroni and Cheese102 recipes