I am a Zumbaholic. One of my favorite things to do is go to an awesome high energy Zumba class with one of my favorite instructors. I’ve been hooked for about 4 years, but have been following one particular instructor since her career began about 3 years ago. If you’re ever in the greater Orlando area, please let me know if you want to go the best instructor and most fun class. It’s like going dancing at a club, only more fun. Actually, I’ve gone out to a club with friends and wished I could have been at Zumba.
About two years ago, Zumba Fitness announced that they wanted to do a cookbook and put out a request for recipes. I submitted a simple fresh and easy family favorite; Caprese Crostini. About a month later I got an email that literally had me dancing around the house. That’s not totally unusual, but the amount of squealing with delight that accompanied the dancing was greater than normal. They accepted my recipe and requested more information. Two weeks ago I received an advance copy of the cookbook. I’m so excited to be a part of something that I love and believe in.
The picture in the center under the title is a photo of MY RECIPE! So excited…!!!
I really like the flavor of tomatoes with mozzarella, herbs and balsamic vinegar. When I saw the pin for Baked Parmesan Tomatoes, I thought it would be a nice twist on a delicious stand by.
The recipe originated from the Eating Well magazine website. Let the Pin Testing begin!
The recipe seemed simple enough. Cut the tomatoes in half. I used Roma tomatoes because I love the flavor and I almost always have them around the kitchen.
Top with Parmesan, oregano, salt and pepper. Then drizzle with olive oil.
Bake in a preheated 450 degree oven for 15 minutes.
I started making the rest of supper, which included another Pin Test. My oven beeps when there is one minute left to go on the timer. I checked the tomatoes, but the damage was done.
Always the optimist, I let them cool and plated them to see if it would help.
Not so much this time.
The Baked Parmesan Tomatoes recipe rated as follows:
Overall Rating: 3 Pins
Accuracy: The oven temperature seemed high to me since I usually roast tomatoes and other veggies at 400-425 degrees. Also, 15 minutes is much longer than I need to have perfectly roasted tomatoes (obviously). 2 Pins.
Difficulty: Other than cutting the tomatoes and using the oven, this would be a great recipe to get your kids to help pile the toppings on the tomatoes. 5 Pins.
Time: Twenty minutes start to finish, including the roasting time. Since I’d cut the roasting time to 10-12 minutes, that takes even less time. 5 Pins
Cost: The entire recipe ingredients could be purchased for about 8 dollars (salt, pepper and EVOO are freebies). 5 Pins
Practicality: I will definitely try this again, but reduce the oven temperature and roasting time. Hopefully it will give the results pictured on the original site. 3 pins
Comments
7 responses to “Baked Parmesan Tomatoes”
I love what you are doing with the Pintesting, Anne! Love it! One request: I’d love to see a Pin Category for Flavor/Texture or something similar. After all, if someone is going to follow a recipe that somebody pinned, they probably want it to taste as good as it looks. I’d love to hear your thoughts on seasoning, balance, etc. 🙂
Jenni, I went back and forth over adding “taste” as a rating criteria. The two problems I kept hitting were; 1) I will also test Pinterest pins that are not recipes, and 2) taste is very personal and subjective. I would be glad to add more descriptors about the taste – especially the specifics that you mentioned – but will do it in the “Accuracy” criteria. I don’t want to taste nail polish or modge podge. 😉
Makes sense. I didn’t realize you were going outside the realm of food. I don’t want to know how shellack tastes! lol
Congratulations on the published recipe!! So excited for you! And let me know what oven temp (and time) you’d use to make this recipe right. Looks like it has some potential. 🙂
Thanks Kari! The next time I make them I’ll add an update to the post. One thing I should have mentioned is that everyone’s oven is different, so if you know your own oven leans hotter or colder, or has some other quirk, then adjust for that. Usually if a recipe gives a cooking/baking time range, I ALWAYS check at the earliest time. That wasn’t the case here because the time was not given as a range. For the testing purposes I follow the recipe as precisely as possible, so 15 minutes on the dot. I’ll post the update soon.
I’ve been wanting to try these, I’ll look at your taiortul tomorrow and maybe become brave enough to try it, I’m worried about the fire part of this technique, fire and me don’t get along too well, long story ;( anyway, waving hi from the sandy beaches of Florida!
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