Greek Gemista: Farmers-Market Tomatoes and Peppers Stuffed with Herbed Rice

Heat the oven to 375°F. Slice the tops off the tomatoes and peppers, keeping the caps — they go back on as lids.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 6 large firm ripe tomatoes
• 4 medium bell peppers, mixed colors
• 1 cup medium-grain white rice, rinsed
• 1 large yellow onion, finely diced
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 medium potatoes, cut into thick wedges
• Sea salt and black pepper

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 375°F. Slice the tops off the tomatoes and peppers, keeping the caps — they go back on as lids.
2. Hollow out the tomatoes with a spoon, catching every bit of flesh and juice in a bowl. Scrape the peppers clean of seeds and ribs. Puree the reserved tomato flesh until smooth.
3. Sprinkle the insides of the tomato shells with a pinch each of salt and sugar, then set all the shells upright in a deep roasting pan.
4. In a bowl, combine the rinsed rice, diced onion, parsley, mint, dill, tomato paste, half the olive oil and about 1 cup of the tomato puree. Season assertively with salt and pepper — the rice absorbs a great deal as it cooks.
5. Spoon the filling into the shells, leaving them only two-thirds full so the rice has room to swell. Set the caps back on top.
6. Tuck the potato wedges into the gaps between the vegetables, season them, and pour the remaining tomato puree plus 1 cup of water into the base of the pan.
7. Drizzle everything with the remaining olive oil, cover the pan tightly with foil and bake for 50 minutes.
8. Uncover and bake another 25 to 35 minutes, until the rice is tender, the potatoes take a knife easily and the tops of the vegetables are blistered and lightly charred.
9. Let the pan rest for at least 20 minutes before serving. Gemista is deliberately a room-temperature dish, and the flavours only settle as it cools.
10. Gemista belongs to the Greek tradition of ladera — vegetables slow-cooked in generous olive oil, eaten as a main course rather than a side. It is high-summer food by necessity: made when tomatoes and peppers arrive in quantity, cooked once in the morning before the heat sets in, and eaten cool through the afternoon. The pan of potatoes underneath, soaking up oil and tomato, is quietly the part everyone fights over.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 540 kcal
• Protein: 9g
• Fat: 28g
• Carbohydrates: 68g
• Fiber: 8g
• Sugar: 14g
• Sodium: 620mg