January 16th: Yemista

Yemista: Vegetables Stuffed with Onions, Beef and Rice. This meal is much like cabbage rolls, replacing the cabbage with peppers and tomatoes. The recipe was featured in the Ottawa Citizen in September 2010, and comes from a cookbook called Three Sisters Around the Greek Table. Delicious. A bit of work in the prep and long cooking time, but yummy, filling results.

Yemista

6 tomatoes
4 peppers
1 lb ground beef
2 yellow onions, minced
1 1/2 tsps salt
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
6 potatoes, peeled, cut lengthwise into 1 in pieces
1/2 tsp salt

Slice off the tops of the tomatoes to make lids. If possible, try not to cut the lids off completely. Remove the tough inner cores of the tomatoes. Scoop the soft flesh of the tomatoes and set flesh and juice aside in a bowl.

Make lids for the peppers and seed them. Place the hollowed vegetables in a large roasting pan with a fitted lid. The pan should be large enough to hold the vegetables securely with enough room for the potatoes.

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Sauté the ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat. Drain the fat if needed.

Add the onions, salt and oregano. Cook until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes.

Add the wine and cook until reduced by half. Add the reserved tomato flesh and juice and tomato sauce and heat through.

Add the rice and simmer for 15 minutes over low heat. Stir in the mint, half of the olive oil and some fresh cracked pepper.

Fill the tomatoes and peppers with the beef and rice mixture and place the lids on the vegetables.

Lightly salt the potatoes and place in the roasting pan around the stuffed vegetables.

Drizzle the remaining olive oil over top and place in the middle of the preheated oven, covered, for 50 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for 10 minutes further.

Remove the roasting pan from the oven and let is stand for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with feta cheese and sour cream.

Serves 6.

Putting lids on veggies.

Adding potatoes.

Finished product!