VEGETABLES STUFFED WITH RICE, HERBS, AND OLIVE OIL

Gemista are tomatoes and peppers stuffed with rice and herbs. It sounds simple, but it’s one of those dishes that ends up being more filling than you expect.

It is believed that the dish was first created in Greece during the Ottoman Empire. During this time, Greek cuisine was heavily influenced by Turkish cooking, and many of the dishes that are popular in Greece today have their roots in that era. One of these dishes is gemista, which is thought to have evolved from a Turkish dish called dolma.

Dolma, which means “stuffed,” consists of vegetables filled with a mixture of rice, herbs, and sometimes meat, and it remains popular in Turkey today. Greek cooks likely adapted it over time to suit their own ingredients and tastes.

Gemista quickly became a staple of Greek cuisine, especially during the summer months when fresh vegetables are abundant. The dish is typically made with tomatoes, peppers, or zucchini that are hollowed out and filled with a mixture of rice, onions, herbs, and sometimes ground meat. The vegetables are then roasted until tender and fragrant, their juices mingling with the filling as everything cooks together.

Greek cooks often place potato wedges in the baking dish around the stuffed vegetables. Those potatoes soak up the tomato juices, olive oil, and herbs, and they become incredible – soft on the inside, golden on the edges, and full of flavor.

If you’re not used to Greek cooking, the amount of olive oil can seem like a lot. But this is one of those times where more really is better. The oil blends with the tomato juices and herbs, coating everything and turning simple ingredients into something rich and comforting. It’s not extra – it’s essential.

I’m featuring the rice-only version today, which feels especially right in the warm summer months. Growing up, we had it both ways – sometimes with ground beef added to the filling – but I always preferred the lighter, meatless version.

Gemista – Greek Stuffed Tomatoes ans Peppers

Gemista is one of the signature dishes of Greek home cooking

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Prep Time 40 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Servings: 6 servings

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Greek

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 6 ripe tomatoes
• 6 bell peppers
• 1 cup olive oil
• ½ cup olive oil
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp pine nuts
• 3/4 Cup long grain rice
• 3/4 cup parsley
• 2 Tbsp black raisins
• 1-2 Tbsp dried breadcrumbs optional
• 3 potatoes
• salt
• pepper freshly ground

Equipment

• 1 Frying Pan
• 1 Baking dish

Method

 

1. Preheat oven to 400 fahrenheit.
2. Slice the tops off the tomatoes and the peppers. Scrape the flesh of the tomatoes out with a teaspoon and save it. I like to chop it so there are no huge chunks. Remove the seeds of the peppers.
   6 ripe tomatoes, 6 bell peppers
3. Heat 1 cup of the oil on medium heat and sauté the onions for 6 minutes or so. Add the pine nuts and cook for 2 more minutes. Then add the scraped out insides of the tomatoes, rice, parsley, raisins, and salt and pepper. Cook for about 3 minutes until the liquid begins to be absorbed by the rice.
   1 cup olive oil, 1 onion finely chopped, 2 Tbsp pine nuts, 3/4 Cup long grain rice, 3/4 cup parsley, 2 Tbsp black raisins, salt, pepper freshly ground
4. Stuff the tomatoes and peppers with the rice mixture. The rice will expand when cooked, so only fill about 2/3 to the top. Cover with the sliced-off tops of the vegetables. You can choose to sprinkle with some dried breadcrumbs on them at this point.
   1-2 Tbsp dried breadcrumbs
5. Cut the potatoes into lengthwise wedges and fill the gaps in the pan. If there is any extra filling, add that to the gaps also. Cover all of this with the remaining olive oil. Also, put a bit of water in the pan to keep the potatoes from sticking.
   ½ cup olive oil, 3 potatoes
6. Roast for 1 hour. Sometimes, if there are a lot of potatoes, I cover with foil for the first half hour. When the potatoes are really packed in the pan, I also cover with foil for the first half hour. This helps to cook the spuds through. Keep an eye on it so the pepper skins do not brown too much. If they do start charring, tent with foil.

Notes

You can also stuf zucchini, eggplants, large onions, even squash

This really is a celebration of summer. OPA!