Cereal Recipes: Tomato Gratin with Grape Nuts Topping

Jan. 11, 2006 — -- The Breakfast Cereal Gourmet," written by David Hoffman, who also wrote "The Easy-Bake Oven Gourmet," is taking cereal recipes far beyond Rice Krispie Treats and Chex Mix. He creates meals like Frosted Banana Pancakes with Frosted Flakes and Tomato Gratin with Grape Nut topping. It makes sense. Americans consume huge amounts of cereal. The average person eats about 10 pounds or 160 bowls of it a year, and breakfast cereal ranks third in the list of grocery-store items bought by Americans -- after soda and milk. In fact, most of the vitamins and minerals children get are from cereal.

Tomato Gratin with Grape Nuts Topping
Cookbook author Martha Rose Shulman, whose 20-plus books include "Mediterranean Light," "Provincial Light," and "Ready When You Are," based this recipe on one of her favorite dishes. "I thought it would work because the tomatoes become very sweet and soft as they bake, and the slight sweetness and crunch of the Grape Nuts is a nice compliment," she said.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Oil a 2-quart baking dish. Layer the tomatoes in the dish, sprinkling each layer evenly with salt and sugar. Grind the Grape Nuts in a food processor fitted with a steel blade until they have the texture of coarse bread crumbs. Add the bread crumbs, parsley and olive oil to the processor and blend together. Spread over the top of the tomatoes in an even layer. Bake for one hour and turn the heat down to 325 degrees. Bake 30 minutes to 1 hour, until the top is golden brown and the juices that are left in the pan are thick. Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold.

Serves 4