Tomatoes à la Monégasque

Tomates à la Monégasque (Monaco-style stuffed tomatoes) teach the discipline of cold hors-d'oeuvre work: remove water before you add richness. The tomatoes must be hollowed, marinated, and drained until their interiors are seasoned but no longer wet; otherwise the tuna mince slides and the mayonnaise loosens. That is the one true thing to know before touching a pan.

The brigade formula assumed a garde-manger (cold station) with five quarts of Cooked Marinade for Venison (No. 168) already strained and cold, oeufs durs (hard-boiled eggs) ready on the prep table, and a bag fitted with a plain pipe. Your kitchen needs only ¾ cup of that finished referenced preparation, two eggs cooked here, and a small piping bag. The five-quart batch and service staging are scaffolding; the twenty-minute interior marinade, exact tuna-to-egg proportion, thick mayonnaise, and proud dome are the dish, so they stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.

Serve them cool: red shells with pale rose filling, green herbs through the mince, each bite sharp from the marinade and round from the emulsion. Drain the tomatoes cut side down and blot the cavities before filling; that single step decides whether every dome stands cleanly.