When we visited Greece a number of the restaurants we went to featured stuffed tomatoes on the menu. In most cases they were stuffed with a meat, rice, herb, tomato mixture. You wouldn't think that they would taste amazing but they certainly did. When I was thinking for ways to use up the glut of tomatoes that we have I immediately thought of trying to recreate those stuffed tomatoes. Of course, with the joys of google you never have to recreate anything do you?
Since the temperatures have dropped below 'surface of the sun' I felt I might manage to turn the oven on and make this for dinner on Friday.
Three secrets to this amazing stuffed tomato recipe: a hearty, flavor-packed stuffing; sufficient amount of good extra virgin olive oil; and baking until the tomatoes collapse to tender perfection and the stuffing mixture inside is fully cooked through. Greek yiayias will tell you, if the stuffed tomatoes look too perfect, they're probably not very tasty!
These delicious, perfectly baked stuffed tomatoes may be considered a side dish in some Greek households; maybe served next to some lamb. But to me, these are delicious and hearty enough to stand on their own
I know these can be just a bit of a labour of love, but they are not complicated to make (and you can prepare them a little bit ahead of time.)
I made the mistake of using brown rice - it tends to not cook as well in preparations like this as white rice does. Needless to say there was some crunchy bits on the top of the tomatoes - not the end of the world by any measure. I think I'd increase the fresh herbs to really have that fresh flavour come through. Finally, my tomatoes were full of moisture - adding a cup of water to the dish was overkill. After an hour I was worried that the dish would overflow in the oven and sucked moisture out with a baster! You might want to try 1/3 a cup and add more if they seem dry.
Before:
After:
Enjoy!
Gemista - Greek Stuffed Tomatoes
8 peppers and/or tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion (diced)
3 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 cup tomato sauce (I used a simple roasted tomato sauce)
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup herbs such as parsley, dill and mint (chopped)
1/4 cup arborio rice
1 pound ground beef
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup water
2 tablespoons olive oil
Cut the tops off of the peppers and tomatoes and remove the seeds from the peppers and the insides of the tomatoes reserving them.
Heat the oil in a pan.
Add the onions and saute until tender, about 10-15 minutes.
Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
Add the reserved tomato guts, tomato sauce and oregano and simmer until it thickens and remove from the heat.
Mix the tomato sauce, herbs, rice, ground beef, salt and pepper.
Stuff the mixture into the peppers and tomatoes and place them in a baking dish.
Pour the water and olive oil into the baking dish.
Bake in a preheated 375F/190C oven until the liquid has evaporated and the peppers and tomatoes are roasted until slightly caramelized, about 1-2 hours.
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