Γεμιστά — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

Ripe tomatoes and sweet peppers hollowed out and stuffed with herbed rice, baked slowly until caramelized and tender, with roasted potatoes nestled between them.

Ingredients

6 large ripe tomatoes
4 bell peppers (mixed colors)
1.5 cups short-grain rice
1 large onion, grated
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch fresh mint, chopped
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp sugar
Salt, pepper
4 medium potatoes, quartered

Instructions

1 Slice tops off tomatoes and peppers to make lids. Hollow out the flesh, saving tomato pulp. Chop pulp finely.
2 Mix rice with grated onion, garlic, chopped herbs, tomato pulp, tomato paste, half the olive oil, sugar, salt, and pepper.
3 Stuff tomatoes and peppers loosely with the rice mixture, leaving room for rice to expand. Replace lids.
4 Arrange stuffed vegetables in a baking dish. Tuck quartered potatoes between them. Season potatoes with salt, pepper, and oregano.
5 Drizzle remaining olive oil over everything. Add 1 cup water to the bottom of the dish.
6 Bake at 180C for 1.5 hours, basting occasionally, until vegetables are deeply caramelized and rice is tender.

Did You Know?

Greek grandmothers say the secret to perfect gemista is baking them low and slow until the tops are almost burnt — that caramelization is pure magic.