Crabmeat Ravigote Stuffed Tomato

Last Memorial Day weekend I was in New Orleans (for the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience) just before the start of the the Creole Tomato Festival. Seeing all the signs about those luscious Creole Tomatoes turned my thoughts to stuffing the Louisiana beauties, so I created this recipe.

Ravigote is one of the many sauces born from the classic mother sauce, mayonnaise, and thankfully, versions of this zingy sauce, which pairs so well with seafood, shows up regularly on menus in New Orleans restaurants. 

Tomato season arrives-and peaks- earlier In the Crescent City than here in So Cal, where we will have heirloom tomatoes through the end of October, so when my food blogging buddy Dorothy of Shockingly Delicious announced the Food Blogger L.A.’s Tomato and Zucchini August Blog Hop, I thought the timing was perfect to pull out this recipe for my pain perdu readers. (BTW, for tons of other tomato and zucchini recipes, please click on the above blog hop link).

I hope you’ll give this great Louisiana light luncheon dish a try, as we hit our peak tomato season.

Bon Appetit!

Heirloom Tomatoes from the Santa Monica Farmers Market

Crabmeat Ravigote Stuffed Tomatoes

• 1 pound lump crabmeat
• 1/2 cup of Sauce Ravigote (recipe follows)
• 3-4 medium to large ripe beefsteak or heirloom tomatoes*

1. Drain excess water from the crabmeat, and pick through it for bits of shell.
2. Add the Sauce Ravigote to the crabmeat, mixing gently with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, so as not to break the lumps.
3. Using a sharp steak knife, cut out the center of the tomatoes starting at the core and working out in a concentric circle. Reserve the tomato meat for sauces or salsas. Salt the inside of the tomatoes lightly, then fill with the dressed crabmeat. 
4. Garnish with additional minced parsley and/or basil chiffonade.

* For a finer presentation, you may peel the tomatoes first, by blanching them briefly in boiling water, then immediately cooling them in an ice water bath. The skins will then peel off easily. 

Sauce Ravigote

• 1 egg
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1/2 cup Creole mustard
• 2 cups vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
• 2 tablespoons capers
• 4 scallions, chopped 
• Chiffonade of 2-3 large basil leaves
• 1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
• A healthy pinch of freshly ground white pepper

1. Add the egg to the bowl of a food processor and pour the lemon juice over it. Let stand for one minute, then add the mustard.
2. Turn on the food processor, and dribble the oil in slowly through the feeder tube. 
3. Stir in the remaining ingredients.

Yield: 3- 4 stuffed tomatoes

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