Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

Karen Mintzias 1/2 lb Lean lamb or veal, ground
12 Firm, ripe tomatoes 1/4 c Dry white wine
Salt 1/4 c Water
Granulated sugar 6 tb Raw long-grain white rice
3 tb Olive oil or butter Tomato juice (if necessary)
1 md Onion; finely chopped Freshly ground pepper
2 Garlic cloves; chopped 2 Sprigs fresh mint or basil
1/4 c Chopped fresh parsley 1 pn Grated nutmeg

Wash the tomatoes, then turn each stem-side down, and with a sharp knife
carefully cut the end now up to make an opening or "cap" being careful not
to detach the cap entirely. With a small spoon, carefully, without
breaking the outer skin of the tomatoes, scoop the pulp into a bowl. Place
the tomato shells in a baking-serving dish large enough to support them
touching. Sprinkle the inside of the shells with salt and sugar.

Meanwhile, prepare the stuffing. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet and add
the onions. Cook over moderate heat until soft and transparent, then add
the garlic and parsley, and blend. Add the meat, mashing with a fork, then
add the wine and water, cover, and simmer for a few minutes. Add the rice
and tomato pulp and stir. (Tomato juice may be added if necessary, since
the mixture should provide enough liquid for the rice to absorb.) Cover the
skillet and simmer about 7 minutes, then add salt, pepper, mint or basil,
and nutmeg. Taste for seasoning. Remove from heat, and fill the tomatoes
up about two-thirds of the way with the stuffing and liquid. Cover with
tomato caps, brush with oil. Bake in a moderate oven (350 F) until the
rice is tender (approximately 50 minutes to 1 hour), basting inside the
tomatoes with liquid released by them. Serve warm.

Note: For Tomatoes stuffed with Rice, use 1 1/4 cups raw long-grain white
rice instead of the meat and rice in the above recipe, eliminate the wine,
and include with the other seasonings a few tablespoons each of black
raisins and 2 tablespoons pine nuts, if desired. Rice in baked stuffed
dishes takes much longer to cook then over a burner. Stuffed green
peppers, also popular in Greece, can be made the same way with an entirely
different flavor.

From: "The Food of Greece" by Vilma Liacouras Chantiles. Avenel Books, New
York.

Typed for you by Karen Mintzias

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