Vegetarian Stuffed Tomatoes with Brown Rice & Feta Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

4 Large firm Beefsteak tomatoes
1 Tbs. plus 1/3 cup olive oil
Salt, to taste
2 cups cooked, cooled rice, (I prefer short-grain brown rice)
1 cups roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup plus 3 Tbs. chopped fresh mint
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Fresh ground pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Rub the inside of a 3-quart baking dish with 1 Tbs. of the olive oil and set aside.

Using a serrated edged knife, cut off the top third of each tomato and discard the tops.

Cut 1/8 inch off the bottom of each tomato so that it will sit upright in the baking dish. (If the tomatoes are smaller in size, they might be able to fit in a muffin dish and therefore you would not need to remove the bottoms.)

Using a small spoon (a grapefruit spoon is ideal), scoop out the pulp and seeds from each tomato and discard.

Sprinkle the inside of each tomato with a bit of salt.

Place tomatoes upside down on a plate layered with paper towels and let them sit for 30 minutes to extract the excess tomato juice, which might make the filly soggy.

To make the rice filing, combine the remaining olive oil, rice, parsley, feta cheese, mint and garlic and season with salt and pepper.

Arrange the tomatoes in the prepared baking dish,
like little cups, open side up.

Fill each tomato with about 3/4 full of the rice mixture.

Using a small brush, coat the tomatoes with some of the olive oil from the baking dish.

Bake the tomatoes until the filling begins to bubble and brown lightly…about 35 minutes.

Serve hot or at room temperature.

* Please don’t skimp on the quality of the feta cheese, it’s worth it 😉

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