Tomato ladybirds
Tomatoes filled with a tuna mayonnaise and rice mixture, in a fun ladybird shape that kids will love, served with a puree of fresh garden peas. A good way to encourage them to eat vegetables.
1 hour 50 min.
Easy
3 tomatoes
13 IngredientsLast modified on: February 21th 2011
For 3 tomatoes, you will need:
- 1
3 tomatoes - 2
fine (or table) salt - 3
½ cup peas - 4
1.5 tablespoon olive oil - 5
½ tablespoon lemon juice - 6
1 radishes - 7
1.5 tablespoon mayonnaise - 8
2 tablespoons tuna in oil - 9
3 tablespoons cooked rice - 10
½ bunch chives - 11
5 blacks olives - 12 salt
- 13
pepper
Change these quantities to make:
Change measures:
Times for this recipe
Preparation: 1 hour 40 min.
Cooking: 10 min.
All in all: 1 hour 50 min.
If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time
To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time
Step by step recipe
Stage 1 - 30 min.
Stage 2 - 5 min.
Remove flesh inside tomatoes with a teaspoon or a pommes parisiennes spoon (easier), and keep all that you remove.
Stage 3 - 3 min.
Stage 4 - 5 min.
Dispcard tomato seeds, keeping the flesh and cut off pieces (minus hard green stalk end), chop roughly, salt and leave to stand in a strainer.
Stage 5 - 10 min.
Boil a pan of salted water, put in ½ cup peas and cook until soft (2 or 3 minutes usually).
Remove from pan, drain and put into cold water. Drain again when peas are cold, then dry.
Remove from pan, drain and put into cold water. Drain again when peas are cold, then dry.
Stage 6 - 5 min.
Blend peas, and if possible pass through a fine strainer to remove skins and get a very smooth puree.
Stage 7 - 5 min.
Mix 1.5 tablespoon olive oil and ½ tablespoon lemon juice.
Add 2 tbs of this mix to the pea puree, salt, pepper, and keep covered in the fridge.
Add 2 tbs of this mix to the pea puree, salt, pepper, and keep covered in the fridge.
Stage 8 - 10 min.
Prepare stuffing: cut 1 radishes into very small pieces, put in a bowl, add 1.5 tablespoon mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons tuna in oil, 3 tablespoons cooked rice, ½ bunch chives chopped, and the chopped tomato flesh. Mix well.
Stage 9 - 5 min.
Fill tomatoes with this mix.
Stage 10 - 5 min.
Place a tomato upside down on a serving plate, coat with remaining olive oil-lemon juice mix.
Stage 11 - 5 min.
With a very sharp knife, cut out tiny circles of olive, as thin as possible.
Stage 12 - 20 min.
Stick olive circles on tomato to get the ladybird effect. Tip: position them with the point of a knife.
Make the head with 1/2 olive and 2 blades of chives, then surround with pea puree.
Do this with all your tomatoes, and serve without delay.
Make the head with 1/2 olive and 2 blades of chives, then surround with pea puree.
Do this with all your tomatoes, and serve without delay.
Stage 13
For adults you could make a quicker version without olives.
Remarks
With this recipe you will become a god or goddess of cooking for your young children or grand-children. After this they will frequently ask you to make ladybird tomatoes again... To make it a real surprise, close the kitchen door if possible while you cook, and then see their eyes open wide when you put the plates on the table.
To cook rice, use the pilaf method or rice-cooker.
To cook rice, use the pilaf method or rice-cooker.
Keeping: Several days in the fridge, covered by a plastic film.
Source: Home made, from a photo seen in a women's magazine a long time ago.
Nutritional information
| Proteins (gr) | Carbohydrates (gr) | Fats (gr) | Energy value (in k-calories) | Energy value (in k-joules) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole recipe | 20 RDI=7 % | 40 RDI=4 % | 110 RDI=20 % | 1,050 RDI=50 % | 4,380 RDI: 50 % |
| Per 100 g | 3 RDI=1 % | 7 RDI=1 % | 20 RDI=3 % | 180 RDI=9 % | 770 RDI: 9 % |
| Per tomatoes | 6 RDI=2 % | 10 RDI=1 % | 40 RDI=6 % | 350 RDI=20 % | 1,460 RDI: 20 % |
How much will it cost?
- For 3 tomatoes : 3.60 €
- Per tomatoes : 1.20 €
Change currency: 
Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.
This recipe uses (among others)
Peas
Like these other recipes: Macédoine of vegetables, Pea risotto "Mantecare", Chinese style chicken, New York style pasta, Eggs en Cocotte à la Française, ... See them all 19
Cooked rice
You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Baby broad beans and peas with rice and mascarpone , Rice with spring greens, Glazed mushrooms with plain rice, Madras rice, Rice and purple-sprouting broccoli salad, ... See them all 26
Tuna in oil
Like these other recipes: Rice and fresh spinach salad, Rice and purple-sprouting broccoli salad, Spring courgette and tuna salad, Gribouille dressing, Warm broccoli and Tuna Salad, ... See them all 23
Black olives
Like these other recipes: Greek salad, Souda salad, Salade Niçoise, Pissaladière with puff pastry, Pasta with cherry tomatoes, olives and feta cheese, ... See them all 7
Other recipes you may also like
How to prevent butter burning during cooking
Butter, which is excellent for fixing flavours in a recipe, burns if the temperature is too high. It darkens and produces unpleasant small black specks (by the way, note that the famous recipe "raie au beurre noir", ray in black butter, is a kind of sacrilege!).February 21th 2011140 K 24.1 3 min.
Courgette tart with mint
Fried rounds of courgette in a puff pastry case with a feta and mint filling. You will find that this combination of feta with mint gives an agreeable fresh lift to this tart.June 11th 2011170 K4.1 1 hour 25 min.
Plain cake
This is a classic, loaf-shaped cake, deliberately left plain for you to embellish as you choose.December 30th 201984 K3.7 1 hour 30 min.
Pasta with mushrooms
Your choice of pasta (spaghetti, penne or whatever) in a creamy sauce with mushrooms and shallots.May 10th 2023126 K4.3 40 min.
Normandy seafood stew
A "marmite normande" is a combination of different seasonal julienne vegetables and a mix of shellfish, rapidly sautéed, then deglazed with cider. The vegetables and shellfish are then simmered together in cream, which intensifies the flavours while it gently reduces and thickens. This recipe is...January 9th 201972 K2.5 2 hours 15 min.
News list of cooking-ez.com
Sign up to receive the latest recipes (next batch due to be sent on 2025-06-08)
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Follow this recipe
If you are interested in this recipe, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the recipe is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.
The 1 comment already posted on this recipe