Seasonal sensation: Try Rui Correia’s stuffed tomatoes

Portuguese chef serves them up with fava puree, feta and lemon honey oregano yogurt

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>>> fast and fresh. this morning we have two. the chef and owner of a restaurant, good to see you.

>> good morning, how are you?

>> you just got back from greece and you were inspired.

>> yes, there last week. everywhere i went there was beautiful produce like we have here today. everybody made this thing called fava. turns out nothing to do with the fava beans , but peas, like a puree.

>> what are we going to do?

>> yellow split peas , soak them in water, bring them to a boil and have them nice and tender like here. start off by adding them to -- not that. we're going to add to here. a little bit of fresh lemon juice . a little sea salt and a little bit of olive oil . once you have the desired consistency, you just puree that up. then you end up with a nice little puree like this. okay? basically the puree is going to be accompanied with this yogurt dressing we make. again, fresh lemon juice , huge.

>> greek yogurt .

>> beautiful.

>> fresh organizatiegano or dry. honey, a staple ingredient in greece. al, would you do that for me?

>> sure.

>> take a tomato, core it here.

>> how hard to core one.

>> if you're comfortable with your knife skills, do what i do, if not cut off the top and do it with your fingers. cut off the bottom so it's straight. take the fava puree, yellow split pea , add it there. crumbled feta, chopped onion. okay? a little micro greens on top.

>> nice, healthy look to it.

>> once we're done, fresh yogurt sauce, drizzle like this, stuffed tomatoes, great oppose advertiser, two per person or if you have time make small ones.

>> can you use that as a dip?

>> yes. basically we'll go back and talk about that. two cheeses that are popular. this is a firm, almost feta like made from sheep's whey. you can grill it. the smoke brings out the natural saltyness in the cheese. once you grill it, split pea puree, take them and dip it in. cheese used a lot. the difference with this cheese, more fatty. when you melt it, you don't get nice grill marks like you would on this cheese. nice melt, use it on top of a nice pizzas a sandwich or some cold meats like we have here.

>> what are these meats.

>> this is not meat, all portuguese meat. i'm portuguese, so bring my flavor in. portuguese cured ham and fresh chorizo. these go nice together.

>> a combo going.

>> a nice cocktail party . little pitas, pop out, grill off-seasoning. a fresh olivetappenaude make a spread.

>> recipes on today.com. chef, thank you so much.

>> thank you.

Show transcript

TODAY recipes

updated 8/23/2012 5:31:04 PM ET

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Want to make something memorable with your tomato harvest this season? Here, Portuguese chef and restaurateur Rui Correia shows how to make stuffed fresh tomatoes with Greek fava puree, crumbled feta cheese and lemon honey oregano yogurt.

Recipe: Stuffed fresh tomatoes (on this page)

Recipe: Stuffed fresh tomatoes

Rui Correia

Ingredients

For the tomatoes:
8 tomatoes (roughly the size of tangerines)
Crumbled feta cheese
1 cup kalamata olives (for garnish)
1 medium red onion, diced
For the Greek fava puree:
1 cup yellow split peas, dry (soak in 8 cups of water overnight)
Sea salt
Olive oil
Lemon juice from half a lemon
For the lemon honey oregano yogurt:
2 cups Greek plain yogurt (low-fat can be substituted)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon grade A honey

Preparation

To make the Greek fava puree:
Bring the split peas to a boil in the same water you soaked them in overnight. Add pinch of sea salt, lower to a simmer, cook until tender, approximately 45 minutes. Strain, set aside to cool.

Once cool, put in a food processor and add olive oil in slow stream, until you have a hummus-like consistency. Add sea salt and lemon juice of half a lemon. Set aside again and let cool completely.

To make the lemon honey oregano yogurt:
Whisk ingredients together, set aside.

To prepare the stuffed tomatoes:
Cut the top off the tomatoes and gut the insides. Sprinkle the inside of all tomatoes with sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil. Fill halfway with crumbled feta cheese, then fava puree. Top with diced red onion.