I was fortunate enough to enjoy a sailing holiday in the Greek islands with old friends, and while in Crete had fun being taught to make a dish of stuffed tomatoes in the countryside. After leaving the boat at Lhania, we drove inland to a small village, where we sat at a table with dappled light under a grape vine sharing a view across a valley of orchards while eating the dish we had just been taught to make.
Among other memories I have of the place include eating apricots and large sweet white mulberries from the trees as we walked along narrow cobbled streets. The rustic stone and white buildings all seemed to be in perfect scale with in the village. I also remember being taught to grate large tomatoes, discarding the skins, when extra tomato pulp was required for this dish. Grating tomatoes is a very quick and practical way to add them without their skins.
Of course the view and the dappled light and the rustic village cannot be transported back, but the wonderful thing about food is that it can work like a sensory memoir of an experience. So when I make this now, I think back to the village where I first tasted it, and the memory it serves up is, in my opinion, far superior to a photograph – or indeed these clumsy words. So the presentation of the recipe is an attempt to share such a moment with others.
Stuffed tomatoes, yellow capsicums and vine leaves
The recipe is best made with ripe home grown tomatoes and I find it quick and easy to make. It is a delicious lunch served with thick Greek style yoghurt. I like the mix of all three colours, the red and yellow of the tomatoes and capsicums and dark vine leaves look so good in a white ovenproof dish.
Take ripe tomatoes, and red or yellow capsicum, and young vine leaves. Decide on the number of tomatoes and capsicums based on the numbers you are feeding, and the size of your ovenproof dish.
- Cut a circle at the top of the tomatoes, leaving a hinged lid. Scoop out the flesh and seeds, saving them in a bowl.
- Cut circle at the top of the capsicum and make a lid. Clean out the seeds and discard.
- Pick young grape vine leaves and quickly blanch in boiling water, drain and refresh in cold water.
- Blend in your Magi mix or equivalent the saved tomato mixture, adding 1 diced zucchini, 2 cloves of garlic, a bunch of mint and a bunch of Italian parsley, 2 Spanish onions chopped roughly and 1 cup of olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer mixture to a bowl.
- Then for each tomato and capsicum add one dessertspoon of calrose (or long grain ) rice to the mixture in the bowl and blend.
- Fill the tomatoes and capsicums with the blended mixture and fill and roll up the vine leaves.
When the tomatoes and capsicums are filled they should be upright and stacked tightly in the ovenproof dish. (The filled vine leaves can be tucked in the gaps.) Add a cup of water to the bottom of the dish and cover with tin foil and cook in the oven at 200C for approximately for 40-50 minutes.