Tomates Crevettes: the recipe

Following Tuesday's post about the grey North Sea shrimps, I got some requests for the recipe of the Belgian classic ‘Tomates Crevettes’. Well, here it is.

Ingredients (serves two):

150 gr. of peeled* grey North Sea shrimps
2 hard boiled eggs
1.5 tablespoon of mayonnaise
2 firm large or 4 medium sized tomatoes
a tablespoon of chopped parsley (optional)

Method

Wash the tomatoes, remove the green stem, turn them over and cut off the bottom slice (like you would do when you make ‘tomates farcies’). Remove the pips and some of the flesh to make room for the stuffing. Turn over the tomatoes on a piece of paper kitchen towel to drain the excess juice.

In the meantime, peel the boiled eggs, but them in a bowl and use a fork to crush yokes and egg whites into tiny pieces. Add and stir in the mayonnaise. Add the chopped parsley, stir again. Add the peeled shrimps and stir until all the ingredients blend together in a homogenous mass.

Use a coffee spoon to put the mixture in the tomatoes. Press slightly to make sure that the cavity is nicely filled. Top the stuffing with the little ‘hat’ (the slice you’ve cut). Dress a large plate with some green salad on which you’ve sprinkled freshly ground pepper and olive oil. Put the tomatoes on the bed of salad leaves and serve with French fries, an extra blob of mayonnaise and some baguette slices.

Bon appétit!

(*) I know I said that it’s best to peel the shrimps yourself but it is a very tedious job. The best fishmongers and fish shops often sell three kinds of shrimps: unpeeled, hand peeled and industrially peeled. The hand peeled ones are the most expensive, but at least you’ll know that they don’t contain any ascorbic acid!

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