Tomato and Shrimp Antipasto Recipe

This dish makes a fantastic, and impressive antipasto, or a great meal when paired with a salad.

Ingredients

• 10 medium, firm tomatoes
• 1 cup medium shrimp, cooked, shelled, and deveined
• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 1 cup marinated artichoke hearts, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and finely chopped
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
• 1/2 cup parsley, roughly chopped (for garnish)

Directions

1. Cut the tops off the tomatoes and carefully scoop out the insides with a spoon.
2. Chop the tomato pulp and mix with the shrimp, celery, artichoke hearts, green pepper, and lemon juice.
3. Stir in the sour cream, salt, and pepper to the shrimp mixture.
4. Spoon the filling into the tomatoes.
5. Sprinkle the chopped parsley over the top of the tomatoes and serve.

Note: Is the tomato a fruit or a berry? This is a long running argument. The United States Congress passed the Tariff Act of 1883, a rather innocuous piece of legislation requiring a 10% tax on imported vegetables, in response to growing international trade. One tomato importer, John Nix, evaluated the law closely, and decided to challenge it on the grounds that a tomato was in fact a fruit and not a vegetable. His case worked it's way through the courts and was finally argued before the Supreme Court in 1893. In Nix vs Hedden, 149 U.S. 304 (1893), Justice Gray wrote, "Botanically speaking, tomatoes are fruits of a vine, just as are cucumbers, squashes, beans, and peas. But in the common language of the people...all these are vegetables, which are grown in kitchen gardens, and which, whether eaten cooked or raw, are, like potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets, cauliflower, cabbage, celery and lettuce, usually served at dinner in, with or after the soup, fish or meats which constitute the principal part of the repast, and not, like fruits generally, as dessert." The court rejected the botanical truth that the tomato is in fact a huge berry, and sided with common usage to describe it as a vegetable.