Tulip Tomatoes

Greetings all!
 
Are you a fan of food art? I love looking at photos of beautiful and edible food art although I have to confess I rarely prepare those dishes myself. This recipe, however, is just begging to be made – very pretty, easy to prepare, delicious, healthy, and it makes me think of a lovely spring day!

Image and main recipe idea from https://afewshortcuts.com/tulip-tomatoes/                             

Ingredients:

• 15 large cherry tomatoes
  
• 16 stalks of chives or green onions
  
• 8 oz. cream cheese
  
• 1 cucumber
  
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
  
• salt & pepper
• leafy salad

 
Instructions:

• With stem side down, cut a cross in the top of each cherry tomato (about ¾ down the tomato).
• Use a spoon to scrape out the tomato seeds gently.
• Using a knife/grilling skewer/toothpick, make a hole where the stem currently is - this is for your chives/green onion ‘stem.’
• Make the filling:
• Note: you can use whipped feta cheese or any other cheese/savory creamy concoction.
• Finely chop or grate cucumber.
• Mix cream cheese, cucumber and basil in a bowl.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Add a teaspoon of cream cheese mixture into each tomato tulip.
• Insert a chive/green onion into the hole at the bottom of each tomato.
• Prepare the tulip bouquet on a large plate or platter.
• Use the extra chive stalk to wrap around the tulip stems to complete the bouquet.
• You can also use spinach or any other leafy salad for extra leaves, as shown in the photo below

Image from https://forum.say7.info/topic9722.html

 
Bon Appetit! Let me know how you like it!