Baked Tomatoes With Hazelnut Bread Crumbs

I found this recipe on Epicurious, and borrowed their photo because my camera battery was dead when I made this. I divided the recipe in half, and it was still more than enough for a side dish for two people. Also, you don't need to use quite as many hazelnuts if you don't want that flavor to dominate the dish.

-2 cups bread crumbs
-4-6 beefsteak tomatoes (about three lbs.)
-1 1/2 tablespoon thyme
-1/2 stick butter
-1 cup hazelnuts, toasted, skins rubbed off, cooled, and coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 with rack in middle. Spread bread crumbs in a sheet pan, and toast in oven until pale golden. About 15 minutes.
Increase oven temperature to 450. Thickly slice tomatoes and arrange, overlapping, in a buttered baking dish. Season with salt and pepper and 1 tablespoon of thyme. Melt butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat, then cook the nuts and crumbs, stirring frequently, until golden. 4-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon evenly over the tomatoes.
The recipe did not require this to be covered. But the bread crumbs started to burned, so I covered this with foil.
Bake until tomatoes are bubbling and crumbs are brown. 15 to 25 minutes.
Cool. Sprinkle remaining thyme