Great Exuma, Bahamas and Mushroom Stuffed Tomatoes

This is the rough life I lived last week.  Aqua water, tropical breezes, rum punches, bright sunshine and plenty of fresh fish to eat every day.  It doesn't get much better than this.  Our stay at the Grand Isle Resort in Great Exuma was perfect.  The out islands of the Bahamas are a very nice place to go in the summer because the weather is the perfect temperature of mid-80's and the humidity is not bad.  There is usually a tropical breeze blowing so dining outside is very comfortable. Occasionally there will be a small rain shower but it never lasts for very long.

  
The beaches are not crowded.  We only saw 2 other people on a 5 mile long beach.  My husband had a very relaxing time fishing on the "flats" trying to catch a barracuda.  How come the ocean in New Jersey isn't this color?

Luckily the water was clear enough to see this stingray swimming by.  This definitely got me out of the water very quickly even though they don't want to hurt you or get near you either.

Unfortunately our vacation is over and we are home now.  But we came home to lots of tomatoes in our garden so I needed something to do with them.  My husband was watching the Food Network a few weeks ago and called me in to watch Alton Brown make Mushroom Stuffed Tomatoes on the Food Network Channel.  They were delicious.  A perfect summer dish!  Topped with parsley and goat cheese they were loved by everyone.

Ingredients:
1 cup diced cremini mushrooms
1 cup diced portabello mushrooms
1 cup diced shitake mushrooms
1 cup white wine
5 medium tomatoes, cored plus 1 tomato chopped
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp minced shallots
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 cup diced onion
1 cup spinach
1-1/4 cups panko bread crumbs
1/4 tsp pepper
4 oz goat cheese at room temperature
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

Sprinkle the cored and seeded tomatoes with salt and place upside down to drain.  In saute pan heat olive oil and add shallots, garlic and onion.  Cook until transparent.

Add mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes.  Add wine and spinach.  Cook for another 5 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed.  Add the panko bread crumbs and chopped tomato and stir to combine.

Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.  Preheat the broiler.  Mix together the room temperature goat cheese and parsley.

Stuff each tomato with the mushroom stuffing and top with a thin layer of goat cheese mixture.  Place tomatoes on a baking sheet and put under the broiler for 2-3 minutes until the cheese is slightly melted and golden.

Enjoy!  Susan

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