AT THE WATER’S EDGE:

I had seen a recipe for stuffed tomatoes a while back, but couldn’t remember where.  I also remember seeing some recipes that combined tomato and crab (imitation) and thinking that sounded good.   Going off that and a couple of recipes for stuffed tomatoes, I decided to make up my own recipe, using what I had on hand and what sounded good to me.  Here’s what I ended up with.

4 medium-sized tomatoes

¾ cup couscous, cooked according to package directions

4 “sticks” of imitation crabmeat, diced

3 Tbsp. pine nuts, toasted

1 small sweet onion, diced

Olive Oil

Lemon Juice

Salt

Pepper

Parsley flakes

Hollow out each of the tomatoes and discard insides or reserve for another use.  In a large bowl combine cooked couscous with toasted pine nuts, crabmeat, and onion.  Stir until well combined.  Add enough olive oil to lightly coat the mixture and add just a few squirts of lemon juice.  Season with salt, pepper and parsley to taste.  Spoon the couscous mixture into each of the tomatoes and serve at room temperature.

Overall, I liked this recipe.  It was different from a lot of the things I normally make and not too difficult to prepare.  What was difficult, however, was eating them!  I cut the tomatoes with a fork and knife and would take a bite like that.  Tom, on the other hand, cut his tomatoes in half, picked up a half and just started chomping! They are a little bit messy to eat, but the taste was good.  I also had a lot of the filling leftover, which I just ate by itself…so, really, you could stuff more than 4 tomatoes!  For convenience sake, I think next time I might just add diced tomatoes to the couscous mixture.  However, the presentation won’t be quite as unique!