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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.

284 K 1× 4/5 (23 reviews)

1 hour 50 min. difficulté

Easy

7.15 €

12 tomatoes

13 Ingredients

Last modified on: February 21^th 2011

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For 12 tomatoes, you will need:

1 12 tomatoes
2 fine (or table) salt
3 1 ¾ cup peas
4 6 tablespoons olive oil
5 2 tablespoons lemon juice
6 4 radishes
7 6 tablespoons mayonnaise
8 ½ cup tuna in oil
9 ¾ cup cooked rice
10 2 bunches chives
11 20 blacks olives
12 salt
13 pepper

Change these quantities to make:

2 tomatoes 3 tomatoes 6 tomatoes 12 tomatoes 18 tomatoes

Change measures:

Metric

Metric weight Metric volumes

Times for this recipe

Preparation: 1 hour 40 min.

Cooking: 10 min.

All in all: 1 hour 50 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at 1:20, you will finish around : 3:05.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: 17:45.Change end time

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 30 min.

Peel 12 tomatoes.

Cut across the stalk end to form a flat base, leaving the largest possible dome.

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.

Salt inside tomatoes, and leve upside down on a tray.

Set aside.

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 1 ¾ 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.

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 6 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons lemon juice.

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 4 radishes into very small pieces, put in a bowl, add 6 tablespoons mayonnaise, ½ cup tuna in oil, ¾ cup cooked rice, 2 bunches 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.

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.

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	70 RDI=30 %	170 RDI=20 %	450 RDI=70 %	4,180 RDI=210 %	17,500 RDI: 210 %
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 %

The % figures are calculated in relation to the Recommended Dietary Intake , or RDI of 2,000 k-calories (or 8,400 k-joules) per day for a woman Change to a man

Possible allergens in this recipe: egg, Sulfites, Mustard, Fish, Milk

How much will it cost?

For 12 tomatoes : 14.25 €
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.

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The 1 comment already posted on this recipe

These are simply adorable JH. I must save this idea and share it with my blog visitors. Thank you!
Posted by Louise august 31^th 2009 at 18:52 n° 1

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