Tomatoes filled with more tomatoes, ciabatta and mozzarella...

Tomato Salad is typically a summer salad so when we, here in the Southern tip of Africa starts craving it, you can know for sure that Spring and Summer are on it's way. Although our days are getting warmer, the nights are still cold and the body still wants food to warm you up on the inside. I have fond memories of picking fresh plum tomatoes from my uncles huge vegetable garden. I remember helping my mom and my gran to bottle tomatoes and drinking the juice and pips with salt and pepper. As you know, my husband and I do our church work in a very challenged community, but what is strange about every single household that we are connected to, is that they have access to running water and virtually every house could have a vegetable garden just like my uncle's. The problem is that 90% of them are unemployed and we're thinking......Imagine if we could empower this community to become self-sufficient and who knows in the end they could even supply some of their homegrown produce to local restaurants in our area. The irony of it all is that this community is called Garden Village. So when I saw these lovely tomatoes, I thought, why not make a warm Italian Bread Salad? You need the freshest ingredients you can find, but the quantities depend on how many people you want to serve.

Ps. My husband has read my post and has given me an equivalent of a $10 donation to start my "crusade" with. If you want to join me in this quest, put $1 in an envelope and send it to me and with this we can afford to buy 1 packet of seed and some compost. If this sounds like a scam to you, rather send us some vegetable seeds and I will update you on your growing investment.
My address is Postnet Suite 5, Howard Centre, Pinelands 7405, South Africa
P.P.S please do not send compost we have more than enough here in Africa.
I appreciate you reading this and look forward to hearing from you.

Back to the recipe.
This is what you need:

Fresh tomatoes - I made 6
a few slice of ciabatta - cubed
some cocktail tomatoes - use different colors if you can find.
good quality Extra virgin olive oil fresh Thyme or basil
salt and pepper. Imported Italian Mozzarella - (SA now produces it's own, but I could not get hold of it short notice. Click this link to find out more about "Mozzarella di bufala" that is now made in Cape Town, South Africa

Method

Slice the heads of the tomatoes and keep on the side. Take a teaspoon and remove the flesh from the tomatoes - make sure not to pierce the sides. Keep the tomato flesh for soups or stews. Now, halve the cocktail tomatoes and place in a bowl with cubed ciabatta and torn pieces of the mozzarella. Pour over some EVO and season with salt and pepper. Add some thyme or basil and fill the tomato shells with this mixture. Place th lids back on and bake for about 30 minutes in a moderate oven. This is delicious served with grilled fish or lamb or just on its own as a vegetarian option.