BEAN AND BROCCOLI FILLED TOMATO CANAPÉS

You certainly won’t find a party bite that’s prettier than these stuffed cherry tomatoes. These red and green appetizers work equally well at a summer barbeque or a holiday cocktail party.

Yield: Makes 70.

BEAN AND BROCCOLI FILLED TOMATO CANAPÉS

Ingredients

  • 2 cups broccoli florets
  • 3/4 cup canned white kidney beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp basil, crumbled
  • 1/2 tsp oregano, crumbled
  • 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp grated lemon peel
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper
  • 35 - 40 cherry tomatoes, halved

Directions

  1. To prepare filling, cook broccoli in boiling salted water for 4 minutes or just until tender crisp; drain. Cool immediately in ice water; drain. Pat broccoli dry with paper towels. Place broccoli in a food processor; process until finely chopped. Add beans, cheese, oil, lemon juice, basic, oregano, garlic, lemon peel, salt and pepper; process until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
  2. Scoop pulp out of halved tomatoes, leaving a 1/8 inch thick shell; discard pulp. Invert tomato shells onto several layers of paper towels. Let stand for 10 minutes.
  3. Spoon filling into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe about 1 tsp of filling into each tomato shell. Alternatively, filling may be spooned into tomato shells. Serve immediately.
Nutritional analysis per tomato canapes:

12 calories, 0.7 g fat, 0.7 g protein, 1.1 g carbohydrate, 0.3 g fibre, 33 mg sodium

Tip:

If desired, the filling for this canapé may be piped or spooned into crispy hors d’oeuvre shells, such as Siljans Croustades Crispy Shells, instead of halved cherry tomatoes.