Yemista: Greek-Style Stuffed Tomatoes and Peppers

This is my husband's all-time favorite dish! My mother-in-law showed me how to make this right after I married her son. Surprisingly, this dish is vegetarian and yet it is still my husband's favorite. Some recipes call for meat, which is always an option, but her recipe is perfect as it is and requires no meat at all. The only grain is rice, so this dish is also gluten-free. Although it is extremely easy to make, it is quite time-consuming from the prep-time and the amount of time it needs to cook in the oven.

The Greek name for this dish is "γεμιστές" or "yemista" (yeh-mee-stah). I often joke around that it's actually called "yummy-stuff". Plated with a slab of feta cheese and a side of roasted potatoes, you'll want to make a lot of this dish so that you will have lots of leftovers throughout the week!

Ingredients 

• 4-6 med or large tomatoes 

• 2-3 bell peppers (eggplant is great, too!)

• 1 small onion (red onion is yummy), chopped/minced

• 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic, minced

• 1/4 C EVOO

• 1 C fresh Italian parsley, roughly chopped 

• whole grain brown rice: 1 1/2t per each tomatoe and pepper used, plus 2 T extra

• 1 C tomato sauce

• 1 1/2 T salt

• 1 T sugar

• black pepper to taste

• 3-4 small red potatoes

Directions

Wash all of your produce. Cut "lids" for each tomato, pepper, and any other vegetable used, and set aside. Scoop out all of the vegetables, saving the insides of the tomatoes in a bowl. The insides of the pepper and any other vegetable can be discarded.

 Over medium/high heat add a 1/4 cup of olive oil. Sauté onions and garlic until the begin to become translucent and "carmelize" (my dad loves that term). By hand or by blender mash the scooped tomatoes, then add to the onions and garlic. Bring to a boil. While boiling, chopped parsley and add to the mix. Stir in tomato sauce and sugar. Add salt-and-pepper. Bring to boil again. And rice, per tomato/vegetable count, plus a little extra, and stir. Reduce the heat to medium. Preheat oven to 325°F. Let mixture be boiling 10 to 15 minutes. 

Have tomatoes and vegetables ready in a pan. Cut the red potatoes into small wedges and arrange them in between the tomatoes and vegetables. After the tomato mixture is done, scoop mixture into each tomato/vegetable and place lid on top. Add whatever mixture left into the pan over top of the potatoes. 

Drizzle the rest of the olive oil over each tomato and vegetable. Place in the oven for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, or until the potatoes a fork tender, and tomatoes are soft.