Recipe of the Month: Gemista (Greek Stuffed Tomatoes and Peppers with Rice and Herbs)

A Greek summer staple: ripe tomatoes and peppers filled with herby rice, surrounded by potatoes and roasted until everything is soft, golden and full of flavour.

Simple, generous food made for sharing. Serve with feta and a bottle of Little Owl Agiorgitiko in the middle of the table.

Serves 6

For the gemista

• 3 onions

• 6 tomatoes

• 3 green bell peppers

• 350g round grain rice

• 500g baby potatoes

• 8 tbsp olive oil

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1 courgette

• 1 carrot

• 1 tbsp granulated sugar

• 1 tbsp tomato paste

• 600g water

• 1 bunch parsley

• 1 bunch mint

• ⅓ bunch dill

• Salt, generously

• Pepper, generously

To serve

• Olive oil

• Mint leaves

• Feta cheese

Method

Prepare the vegetables

Heat the oven to 180°C fan.

Slice the tops from the tomatoes, keeping them to use as lids. Carefully scoop out the flesh and set it aside.

Cut the tops from the green peppers, again keeping the lids, and remove the seeds.

Arrange the tomatoes and peppers in a large baking dish.

Make the filling

Finely chop the onions and garlic.

Grate the courgette and carrot, and finely chop the reserved tomato flesh.

Heat half of the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until softened.

Add the courgette, carrot, sugar and tomato paste and continue cooking.

Stir in the rice, followed by the chopped tomato flesh and some of the water. Season generously with salt and pepper.

Finely chop the parsley, mint and dill and stir them through the filling.

Fill the vegetables

Spoon the rice mixture into the tomatoes and peppers, taking care not to overfill them as the rice will expand while cooking.

Replace the vegetable lids.

Add the potatoes

Arrange the baby potatoes around the stuffed vegetables in the baking dish.

Pour in the remaining water and drizzle everything with the remaining olive oil. Season generously with salt and pepper.

Bake the gemista

Cover the baking dish and bake until the vegetables are tender, the rice is cooked and the potatoes are soft.

Remove the covering towards the end of cooking to allow the vegetables and potatoes to colour and caramelise.

Bring it all together

Let the gemista rest slightly before serving.

Finish with a generous drizzle of olive oil, fresh mint leaves and crumbled feta.

Put the dish in the middle of the table, open a bottle of Little Owl Agiorgitiko and let everyone help themselves.