As a kid, my family and I would travel to Greece roughly every third Summer to visit my grandparents and relatives. We’d stay there the entire Summer and our lifestyles would change dramatically – mainly consisting of eating and chilling by the beach.
The one meal that I remember most vividly during my visits was my mom’s gemista (yeh-mee-sta) or stuffed vegetables. The reason it stands out more than other meals is because we ate it pretty much every other day. Fresh vegetables were plentiful in our village and throughout Greece, so this meal was a staple. Although somewhat time-consuming to prepare, it’s a straightforward dish that will leave you satisfied and…stuffed. Good one, eh?
Before I reveal the recipe, I have a confession to make. I used to hate this dish as a kid. Chalk it up to being a finicky youngster who didn’t like his vegetables, but even today I’m not a huge fan of cooked ones. I prefer them raw.
This dish is one of my exceptions. Call it nostalgia from my summers in Greece, but I’ve grown to love gemista. They pack a lot of flavour and they’re very healthy. Here’s our recipe:
Ingredients
- 5 medium-sized tomatoes
- 5 medium-sized green or red peppers
- 4 medium-sized onions
- 1 lb of lean ground beef
- 10 tsp of Italian arborio rice (or a rice of your choice)
- 1 tbsp of tomato paste
- 1 bottle of Italian tomato sauce
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp of pepper
- sugar
- ¾ cup of extra virgin olive oil (we like Solon)
- approx. 10 sprigs of parsley
- a few mint leaves
Recipe
First, start off by washing the vegetables.
Next, cut open the tops of the vegetables, about two inches wide. For the peppers, clean out the insides by removing the seeds only. For the tomatoes, turn them upside down and cut them open. Scoop out the insides, but do not discard. This applies for both the peppers and tomatoes. They’ll eventually be part of the stuffing. Be sure not to toss out the tops either as they’ll act as lids for the gemista.
For the tomatoes, place a very small amount of sugar with the tip of a teaspoon and sprinkle it inside of each one.
For the peppers, take a fork and puncture two or three spots around each one. This allows the stuffing to cook more evenly.
Next, take the ground beef and place it in a frying pan and sauté on high heat until it browns. This allows the juices to seep out of the meat and get it nice and dry for the stuffing.
Take all of the insides from the peppers and tomatoes and place them into a food processor. You’re looking for a medium consistency. Repeat this step for the onions. Take everything out and place into a large bowl.
In the bowl, add finely chopped parsley, ground beef, rice, tomato paste, ½ a bottle of tomato sauce, salt and pepper, and olive oil. Mix all of the ingredients thoroughly.
Place the hollowed-out vegetables in a baking tray.
Take a large spoon and scoop out the mixture in the bowl to each pepper and tomato and fill to the top. Cover the vegetables with the tops you cut out earlier. Drizzle a bit of olive oil and the remaining bottle of tomato sauce over the gemista.
Add ½ of cup of water to the tray.
As an option, you can also add a very small piece of butter on the closed gemista with a spoon. On top of the butter, add a small sprinkle of bread crumbs. This adds more flavour and makes the gemista more moist.
Place the tray in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for an hour or until you notice the rice is cooked.
You can also make gemista with zucchini, eggplant, and onions if you’d like to try different flavours.
As we used to say in Greece before each meal: Kali orexi! (Bon appétit). Now, off to the beach! Is it still open in October?
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