Tomatoes ‘in Conchiglia.’
Cut five or six tomatoes in half (do not peel them), put them in an earthen pan with bits of butter, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for about one hour, or until the tomatoes are soft. Meanwhile prepare squares of buttered toast, place a half tomato on each square of toast, pour sauce ‘alla Panna’ (see Sauces, p. [125]) round them, and serve.
Tomatoes ‘al Forno.’ No. 1.
Scald, peel, and mash up eight or ten tomatoes, add one teaspoonful of salt, and one saltspoonful of pepper. Put a layer of bread-crumbs into a shallow baking-dish, lay the tomatoes on them, and sprinkle with one tablespoonful of sugar, and a few drops of onion juice. Then cover the tomatoes with a large cupful of bread crumbs moistened with one tablespoonful of melted butter. Bake half an hour in a hot oven, and serve in the baking-dish.
Tomatoes ‘al Forno.’ No. 2.
Scald and peel six or eight tomatoes, slice off their tops, and scoop out a little of the inside. Drop a little oil into each tomato and a small pinch of salt and pepper, replace their tops, sprinkle them with grated bread, salt and pepper, place each on a slice of bread in a tinned dish, add a little pure olive oil, and bake for twenty minutes.
Tomatoes ‘al Forno.’ No. 3.
Scald and peel six or eight tomatoes, take out their seeds, and place them in a tinned dish. Meanwhile mix one tablespoonful of flour, one of fresh butter, four or five fresh mushrooms, some parsley chopped up with one shallot, a little salt and pepper, and some thick purée (or conserve) of tomatoes in a sauce-pan, and stir well. Fill each tomato with this, sprinkle them with grated bread, put four or five tablespoonfuls of pure olive oil in the tin dish, and bake for ten minutes, then brown with a salamander.
Tomatoes ‘Fritti.’
Cut six fine ripe tomatoes in half and put them in a shallow pan with the peel downwards. Add four ounces of butter, sprinkle with pepper and salt, and put them in the oven for ten minutes, then fry them slowly on the fire (do not turn them). When cooked place them carefully on a hot dish, put the pan on the fire again, and brown the butter, adding two tablespoonfuls of flour, mix well, then add one pint of milk, and stir until it boils. Season with salt and pepper, pour it over the tomatoes and serve hot.