Party Resources / Pre-holiday Recipes / Recipes / Appetizers

Pre-holiday Recipes

View other Pre-holiday Recipes View all categories from The Pre-Holiday House Party

Ingredients:

6    oz.     head of garlic; top cut off
1    pint     cherry tomatoes; (about 30)
8    oz.     cream cheese; softened
1    tsp.     lemon juice
        to taste salt
        to taste black pepper
2    tbsp.     olive oil

Directions:

In a foil-lined baking dish drizzle the garlic with the oil, bake it, covered loosely with foil in a preheated 325 degrees. oven for 1 1/2 hours, or until the pulp is very soft, and let it cool until it can be easily handled. Squeeze the pulp from the cloves into a bowl and let it cool. Mash the pulp until it is smooth (there should be about 1/4 cup puree.) Using a sharp knife, cut a thin slice from the bottom of each tomato so that it stands upright. Cut off a thin slice from each stem end and with a small melon-baller scoop out the flesh and seeds carefully, forming tomato shells. Sprinkle the insides of the tomato shells with salt, invert the tomatoes on racks set over paper towels, and let the liquid drain for 30 minutes. In a bowl whisk together the cream cheese, the lemon juice, the garlic puree, and salt and pepper to taste until the filling is smooth. Using a pastry bag fitted with a small star tip, pipe the filling into the tomato shells. Garnish the filled shells with your favorite fresh herb.