Savory Tales

Katherine’s family is from Greece and she spent an afternoon in the ST Kitchen (it’s really the Canapé Cart kitchen - www.canapecart.com - but ST has borrowed it for the video) telling Kathleen and I the story about her mother’s original Greek stuffed tomatoes.

Katherine Zikakis’ Stuffed Tomatoes Recipe:

Invite lots of friends and family over when making this recipe.

18 firm red tomatoes

3.5 pounds of ground chuck

4 large cooking onions

2 cups of uncooked rice

salt and pepper to taste

½ t. of butter for each tomato

½ cup of olive oil

½ cup breadcrumbs

Directions

Put the meat in a heavy frying pan and start to brown on medium heat.

Chop the onions in ¼ dice and add to the meat after it has browned for 6-8 minutes.

Continue to cook.

Prepare the tomatoes by cutting a 2” circle on the stem end of the tomato.

Save the tops of the tomatoes

Very carefully remove the pulp and seeds from the tomato. Be careful not to

Pierce the skin.

Drain the hollow tomatoes while preparing the rest of then meat mixture.

Add some of the pulp from the tomatoes into the meat mixture.

Add the 2 cups of uncooked rice and continue to cook for another 10 minutes or so.

Turn the tomatoes up right and place in an ovenproof dish.

Add ½ t. of butter to each hollowed tomato.

Add salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar

Fill the hollowed tomatoes with the rice and meat mixture.

Do not pack too tight because the rice will expand. Put the tops back on the tomatoes.

Drizzle the stuffed tomatoes with olive oil and breadcrumbs.

Put the tomatoes in the lower shelf of a 350 oven. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes.

Enjoy!

Here is a photo of  Katherine’s mother when she went back to Greece to visit her country.