Stuffed tomatoes with Italian sausage

INGREDIENTS

Serves 6

• 6 medium sized tomatoes

• 1/2 pound of ground beef

• 1/2 pound of Italian sausage

• 3 slices of Italian bread broken into small pieces

• 1/2 cup of instant rice

• 1 bunch of long green onion chopped

• 1 small green bell pepper chopped

• 2 cloves of garlic chopped

• 1 Tbls of butter

• 1 Tbls of extra virgin olive oil

• 1/4 cup of freshly grated romano cheese

• 1/2 cup of tomato sauce

• 10 fresh basil leafs chopped

• 1/4 tsp of dried oregano

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

•  shredded mozzarella

  PREPARATION

• Wash the tomatoes, cut the tops off and spoon out pulp. Reserve the pulp in a small bowl.

• Remove sausage from the casing and fry with the ground beef until done.

• Drain the sausage and beef mixture on a paper towel and wipe the pan clean.

• Add butter and oil to the pan and sauté the garlic, onions, tomato pulp, and green pepper for about 2 minutes.

• Cook rice according to package directions.

• Add cooked meat, oregano, basil, salt and pepper for 2 minutes.

• Add cooked rice and stir in tomato sauce, bread and romano cheese.

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

• Cool the mixture a little then stuff the tomatoes.

• Place tomatoes in a casserole dish and top with mozzarella cheese.

• Cover and bake for 20 minutes.