mediterrranean diet

This gemista, or Greek stuffed peppers and tomatoes, is a staple meal in Greek households. Almost every home has its own recipe. My version is super tasty, with minced beef, lots of herbs and spices and a delicious tomato sauce spooned over the top. Don&#039;t forget to serve with big wedges of feta cheese!

The tastiest gemista (Greek stuffed peppers and tomatoes)

tomatoes (or 6 slightly smaller ones)

green peppers (Australia: capsicum, US: bell peppers)

olive oil (plus a little more for cooking)

tomato puree (US = paste)

garlic

honey ((or 1 teaspoon sugar))

salt

pepper

onion

zucchini ((UK: courgette) grated)

carrot (grated)

garlic ((crushed with a garlic crusher

beef

oregano

allspice

cinnamon

rice (Risotto/Arborio rice is best)

tomatoes ((1 can))

parsley (chopped)

mint

potatoes

feta cheese

Scoop flesh out of tomatoes

Slice the top of the tomatoes off (keeping each top close to its corresponding tomato), then scoop the flesh out of them using a teaspoon. Leave enough around the edge so that the tomato ‘shell’ stays intact. Put the tomato flesh straight into a food processor.

Make tomato sauce

Add the olive oil, tomato puree, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper. Pulse to combine and make a sauce.

Prepare peppers

Now slice the tops off the peppers (keeping the tops close by) and scoop out the pith and seeds. Arrange the empty peppers and tomatoes in a large baking dish (keeping the tops close by).

For the vegetables and tomato sauce

Begin cooking filling

Pre-heat the oven to 200C / 390F. Heat up a big drizzle of olive oil in a large saucepan and add the grated onions, zucchini, carrot and garlic. Cook and stir for a few minutes until softened, then add the beef. Cook and stir again until meat is browned (another few minutes).

Add dried herbs and spices.

Add the oregano, allspice, cinnamon, salt and pepper and stir for about another minute.

Add rest of filling ingredients and simmer

Add the rice, chopped tomatoes, tomato puree and about 1 cup of water. Mix well, then cover and leave to simmer for about 10 minutes, until the rice is partly cooked.

Add fresh herbs

Stir through the parsley, mint, salt and pepper.

For the filling/stuffing

Stuff the vegetables with the filling

Use a dessert spoon to fill tomatoes and peppers with the stuffing. Put the tops back on.

Add potato wedges

Tuck the potato wedges in between the peppers and tomatoes.

Pour over tomato sauce and water

Pour the tomato sauce that you made in the food processor all over the tomatoes and peppers and potatoes. Then pour over 1 cup (250ml) water.

Cover and bake

Cover the baking dish with aluminium foil and bake for 1¼ hours or until the potatoes are cooked and the tops of the vegetables are starting to brown. Remove the foil half way through cooking.

Serve

Serve a half to a whole tomato and a pepper and a few potato wedges for each person. Spoon over some of the tomato sauce. Serve with a wedge of feta.

To assemble the dish

https://embed.mediavine.com/videos/c6lbq5qf4edlotbeescv

Wow your guests with these super tasty and easy Greek stuffed peppers and tomatoes (gemista). It's a perfect healthy and delicious one pan meal to wow your guests with, or make them for yourselves and have leftovers for days!

Top 1 mediterrranean diet recipes from across the web

The most viewed mediterrranean diet recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Top Tags

The tastiest gemista (Greek stuffed...

Top 1 mediterrranean diet recipes from across the web

The most viewed mediterrranean diet recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

The tastiest gemista (Greek stuffed...

The most viewed mediterrranean diet recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine