Stuffed Tomatoes (Yemistes Domates)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Get out a sheet pan or two 9×13” baking dishes.

Take your tomatoes or peppers and slice a hole in the top, and gently set the top aside. Scoop the insides out well, leaving just the shell. Put onto a greased sheet pan or baking dish.

For the tomatoes, take the insides of the tomato out and squeeze the juice out of them, reserving the tomato flesh. Chop the tomato flesh up and set aside.

In a large pan over medium heat, break up the meat into small pieces while cooking it all the way through but not quite brown.

When the meat is cooked through, but not brown, add the onion, garlic and tomato flesh. Also add the crushed tomatoes, olive oil, white wine, and tomato flesh removed from tomatoes. Simmer for about 15 minutes.

In the meantime, combine the parsley and mint in a little bowl.

While the beef is simmering, peel the potatoes and then quarter them. Place them in a bowl with the olive oil and lots of salt and pepper and toss to coat.

Add the rice and the water to the beef mixture. Simmer for about 10 minutes, (this should just soften up the rice a little bit before baking it). Add the bowl of fresh herbs to the beef. Remove the beef and rice mixture from the stove and season well with salt and pepper.

Gently scoop the rice mixture into the tomatoes or peppers. Put the tops on the tomatoes or peppers.

Pour the potatoes into the pan and use them to surround the tomatoes and peppers, they will support the vegetables so that they don’t topple over while baking.

Put a little bit of water (about 1/8 cup) in the bottom of the pan to help steam the potatoes.

Drizzle the tops of the tomatoes or peppers with more olive oil.

Bake the tomatoes or peppers about an hour or until potatoes are golden and the rice is tender.

Serve hot. Enjoy!