Apr 14, 2008

Tomatoes Stuffed with Brown Rice and Feta

When making this dish, use firm tomatoes; if they're too soft, the tomatoes may collapse when baked. We suggest using a creamy, less briny French feta in the rice filling to round out the tomatoes' tanginess, but any good-quality feta will do.

Credit: André Baranowski

1 tbsp. plus 1⁄3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
6 large firm beefsteak tomatoes
Kosher salt, to taste
2 1⁄2 cups cooked, cooled
Short-Grain Brown Rice
1 1⁄2 cups roughly chopped
flat-leaf parsley leaves
3⁄4 cup crumbled feta
1⁄2 cup plus 2 tbsp. chopped fresh mint
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Rub the inside of a 3-quart baking dish with 1 tbsp. of the oil and set aside. Using a serrated knife, cut off the top third of each tomato and discard the tops. Cut 1⁄8" off the bottom of each tomato so that they'll sit upright in the baking dish; discard bottoms. Using a small spoon (a grapefruit spoon works the best), scoop out the seeds and pulp from each tomato and discard. Sprinkle the insides of each tomato with a little salt. Place the tomatoes upside down on a plate layered with paper towels and let them sit for 30 minutes to extract excess tomato juice, which may make the filling soggy.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 400° and make the rice filling: Stir together the remaining olive oil, rice, parsley, feta, mint, and garlic and season with salt and pepper. (You should have about 4 cups of the rice mixture.) Arrange the tomatoes in the prepared baking dish, cut sides up, and fill each with about 2⁄3 cup of the rice mixture, mounding the tops slightly. Using a small brush, coat the tomatoes with some of the olive oil from the baking dish. Bake the tomatoes until the filling begins to bubble and brown lightly and the tomatoes soften, about 45 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.

SERVES 6

This article was first published in Saveur in Issue #111

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Ratings & Reviews (4)

by Mardom on 2008-07-12

3 words: dry, dry, dry

tip: reserve some of the tomato liquid and add it to the mix as well as some olive oil. maybe even increase the cheese???

also keep the tops of the tomatoes and put them on top of the stuffing to keep some of the moisture in...

by twarmbrod on 2009-08-14

These were awesome - I used fresh basil instead of mint but otherwise followed the directions. I did brush the outsides of tomatoes with olive oil and drizzled some EVOO over them before baking - they were perfect. I served them with lemon and dill salmon. I used the "perfect brown rice" recipe to make the rice for the stuffing. Feta made them tangy and they were full of flavor. Delish! I will make this again.

by SDAHLKE420 on 2012-07-01

We tried these and thought they were really delicious, although we did make a few modifications. I didn't have brown rice, so we used wild rice instead, and like another reviewer, I used basil instead of mint. I also used closer to a cup of feta and added a chopped red onion to the mixture. When baking I poured a bit of olive oil over all of the tomatoes to ensure they were moist. I wound up with some extra rice mixture so I just spooned that in to the bottom of the pan and served it up with the tomatoes. I would make this again.

by RWCFOODIE on 2012-08-17

Would like to be able to include reviewer's comments when I print the recipe. Is there a way to do this thru your system?

Tomatoes Stuffed with Brown Rice and Feta 5 5 1 4