Stuffed tomatoes and bell peppers.

Summer is here, I think today we should make a very traditional Greek summer dish, stuffed tomatoes. There are a lot of different recipes for stuffed tomatoes (peas, spinach, feta cheese, and even with octopus in some islands) but today we are going to do the most common and easy recipe which is with rice and ground beef.

Ingredients:

8 medium firm and ripe tomatoes
4 large green bell peppers
1 1/2 lb of lean ground beef
1 finely chopped onion
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup rice
1 cup chopped parsley
Salt, pepper and sugar
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Cut off the top of each tomato and save them for later, with a spoon and very carefully remove the pulp, remove the seeds from the pulp and put it in a blender and liquefy. Cut the tops off the bell peppers also and clean the inside of them.
In a large sauce pan heat half of the olive oil and saute the onions and the ground beef for a few minutes then add the rice, half of the liquefied tomatoes (juice) the parsley , salt, pepper and simmer for 10 minutes.
While simmering sprinkle a little sugar on the inside of the tomatoes, and poke some holes with a fork on the skin of each tomato (and bell peppers of course), now is the time to turn the oven on to 375f.
Fill the tomatoes and peppers with the mixture and place the tops on each one.
Pour the other half of the blended tomato pulp and the olive oil on the tomatoes, (also if you have any mixture left put it in the baking pan) cover the baking pan with foil and cook for about an hour. After 40 minutes remove the foil, you might have to add a little water.
When done if you like you can sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese while the tomatoes and bell peppers are hot.
Serve it with feta cheese and a glass of your favorite white wine.

Καλη ορεξη!

Stuffed tomatoes and bell peppers, great summer dish.