Greek Stuffed Tomatoes & Peppers (Recipe)

These are a tasty and healthy dinner. I almost always use tomatoes, but feel free to substitute green peppers or eggplant (choose one on the smaller side).

Yemista (Greek Stuffed Vegetables)

Ingredients:

4 Large Tomatoes
1/4 Teaspoon sugar
1 Medium potato, peeled and quartered
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 tablespoon tomato paste (dilute with 1/2 cup water)
1/3 tsp dry oregano

Stuffing:

1 finely sliced large yellow onion
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 small eggplant, cubed and trimmed
1/2 cup cooked long grain rice, strained and rinsed
2 tablespoons pine nuts (toasted lightly in frying pan)
2 tablespoons fresh mint (you can substitute this will dill if you like)
1- 1 1/2 tablespoons shredded basil leaves
1 1/2 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cut off the tops of the tomatoes and set tops aside.. Scoop out tomato flesh with a teaspoon. Set aside flesh for stuffing. Invert tomatoes on plate to drain them (reserving the juice for the stuffing). Sprinkle a pinch of sugar into each tomato prior to stuffing them.
3. Now it’s time to make the stuffing: lightly brown onions in frying pan using hot oil. Add eggplant and saute an additional 1-2 minutes. Mix in tomato flesh. Add onion-eggplant-tomato mixture to the cooked rice and mix well. Add in remaining ingredients and mix until even.
4. In a medium making dish, arrange tomatoes. Fill in gaps between tomatoes with potato slices. Carefully stuff with rice mixture and seal tomatoes with tops. Pour diluted tomato paste and olive oil over tomatoes and potato slices, and sprinkle oregano on top.
5. Bake in oven for 1 hour 20 minutes, basting tomatoes occasionally. Enjoy!