Baked Tomatoes

Our meals at home were often heavy on the vegetables with small amounts of meat. One such meal that I particularly remember was pretty much always the same - baked tomatoes, black eyed or sugar crowder peas and collard greens with slices of home cured bacon and biscuits. We frequently had either peas or greens without the tomatoes, but never the reverse.

So far as I know, mother made these by eye rather than by recipe, so like so many things, it's more a process than a recipe.

Baked Tomatoes as Mother made them

1 quart home canned tomatoes with liquid
1/2 cup sugar or more if tomatoes seem quite acid
3-4 left over biscuits or slices of cold toast
salt and pepper
1/4-1/2 cup water as needed
1 T butter

Pour tomatoes into greased or sprayed casserole dish. Slice or quarter them. Stir in sugar and taste to be sure they are somewhat sweet but not dessert sweet. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Rough chop or tear bread into chunks and stir into tomato mixture. Be gentle so that neither the bread nor the tomatoes fall apart. It should be somewhat soupy. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup water if needed. Dot the butter over surface of casserole.

Bake at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the casserole is bubbly and bread has absorbed some but not all the liquid. You want the tomatoes to be juicy/syrupy. Add more water if needed.

Note: If I were making these, I would need to use store bought canned tomatoes. I would use half the juice from the can and half water, unless the tomatoes were packed in really thin juice.