Gemista

Name: Gemista
Cook time: 159 min
Total time: 159 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Greek
Ingredients: 200 g Rice; 6 u Tomato; 2 u Onion; 2 cloves Garlic; 4 u Potato; Salt; Black pepper; 150 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil; 2 u Green Pepper; 1 bunch Parsley; 1 handful Mint; 1 teaspoon Oregano; 1 handful Dill; 150 ml Water

Medium

No allergens declared for the registered ingredients. This does not replace checking the actual product labels.

Author: Equipo Cocinoa
Preparation time: 3 hr
Servings: 4

Summary

Tomatoes and peppers stuffed with rice, onion, fresh herbs and the tomatoes' own pulp, slowly baked with potatoes and plenty of olive oil. The vegetable dish of the Greek summer, and one that only improves as it rests.

Ingredients

4 servings

Add to Bring!

200 g Rice (short or medium-grain)
6 u Tomato (large, ripe but firm (about 250 g each))
2 u Onion (finely chopped)
2 cloves Garlic
4 u Potato (medium, cut into wedges)
Salt (to taste)
Black pepper (freshly ground)
150 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 u Green Pepper (large and wide)
1 bunch Parsley (chopped)
1 handful Mint (fresh, chopped)
1 teaspoon Oregano (dried)
1 handful Dill (fresh, chopped)
150 ml Water

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 190 °C. Slice a lid off each tomato at the stalk end and set it aside. Scoop out the insides with a teaspoon, leaving walls about 1 cm thick, and put the pulp and seeds in a bowl. Lightly salt the insides and leave the tomatoes upside down to drain. Cut the tops off the peppers too, remove the seeds and white ribs and keep the tops.
15 min
Blitz the tomato pulp with a stick blender or chop it very finely with a knife.
3 min
Heat 4 tablespoons of the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and gently fry the onion and chopped garlic until soft and translucent.
8 min
Add the rice and stir for a couple of minutes to coat it. Stir in about two-thirds of the blended pulp and cook, stirring, until the rice has absorbed almost all the liquid; it will still be hard. Off the heat, mix in the herbs, salt and pepper.
8 min
Stand the tomatoes and peppers snugly in a large baking dish. Fill them three-quarters full with the rice, add a spoonful of the remaining pulp to each and put their lids back on.
10 min
Toss the potato wedges with salt, pepper, the oregano and a drizzle of oil and tuck them into the gaps between the vegetables. Mix the rest of the pulp with the water, pour it into the bottom of the dish and drizzle everything with the remaining oil.
5 min
Cover the dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover, baste the vegetables with the juices and keep baking until the rice is tender, the potatoes golden and the lids slightly charred. If the bottom dries out, add a little hot water.
90 min
Leave the dish to rest for at least 20 minutes before serving: the rice settles and the flavours come together.
20 min

Notes

Gemista simply means 'stuffed' in Greek, and Greek homes make them as soon as the summer tomatoes are at their best, until well into the autumn. They belong to the ladera family, vegetable dishes cooked with generous amounts of olive oil: don't cut it back too much, as it is what keeps the rice moist and browns the potatoes. Use large tomatoes that are ripe but firm, and fill the vegetables only three-quarters full, because the rice swells as it cooks. Many families add a pinch of sugar to the pulp if the tomatoes are sharp, a handful of raisins and pine nuts to the rice, or hollowed-out courgettes and aubergines; there is also a version with minced meat. Eat them hot or warm, and even better the next day, with a slab of feta and bread to mop up the juices. They keep for 3 days in the fridge; they don't freeze well, as the tomatoes fall apart.