After several years in the desolate wastelands of supermarket vegetables, I find myself in a situation where I'm able to return to subscribing to an organic vegetable box scheme. Supposedly small things please small minds, but this really does make me happy. When I get around to writing about organic vegetable box schemes, I shall explain why, but for now, content yourselves with this recipe which came about as a result of the gorgeous plum tomatoes that arrived on Tuesday.
You might think that lpm and I are the bi-hemispheral stuffed vegetable queens. This isn't something we set out to achieve deliberately, we just seem to like concocting fillings and cramming them into oh-so-tasty vegetables. And this is different to anything we've written about before now. Promise.
Ingrediments for four: two meat-eaters and two vegetarians
- The basics
- 8 large tomatoes, beef or plum
- 3oz (90g) rice (I am resolutely of the Basmati persuasion for anything other than risotto, or paella, or rice pudding, or sushi, or South East Asian food, or...or...or...)
- 3oz (90g) frozen spinach, defrosted
- ½ large onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 4tbsp sultanas
- 1tbsp pine nuts
- ½tspn cumin
- ½tspn cinnamon
- Splash of olive oil
- salt and pepper
- For the vegetarians
- 4tbsp strong-flavoured, hard-textured cheese (I used Parmigiano, which isn't a vegetarian cheese because it uses rennet. However, my Dining Companion is content with this. Check first.)
Method
Preheat your oven to 180° Celsius or gas mark 4.
Begin by cooking the rice using your preferred method, draining it, and allowing it to cool slightly.
Whilst the rice is cooking and cooling, you need to do three other things: cook the onions and garlic, cook the meat, and prepare the tomatoes for stuffing.
Fry the onions and garlic in a splash of olive oil until they're glassy and then transfer them to a large mixing bowl.
Using the same pan as the onions and garlic (don't bother to wash it up), fry off the lamb.
Prepare the tomatoes for stuffing. I used plum tomatoes, so sliced them lengthways and scooped out the seeds and core using a teaspoon. If I had used beef tomatoes, I would probably have sliced off their tops to scoop out the middle. Season the inside of the tomatoes with salt and pepper, and rub the outsides with a little olive oil and a sprinkling of salt.
In the large mixing bowl containing the onion and garlic, combine the slightly cool rice, the spinach, the sultanas and pine nuts, the spices, and some salt and pepper.
Divide the stuffing into two bowls, and mix the cheese into one and the meat into the other.
Using a teaspoon, stuff half of the tomatoes with the cheese mixture and half with the meat mixture. Pack them into two separate baking dishes and place in the oven for between 30 and 40 minutes; the tomatoes should be tender, but with toasty edges.
Dining Companion and I ate these with new potatoes and salad from my father's garden, as well as a rather lovely bottle of St Emilion because, well it was a Wednesday night and the Netherlands have made it to the final of the World Cup.
Music to cook to: The Dirty Projectors