I hope that summer has made an appearance where you live (well, I mean Northern hemisphere as if it appeared in the Southern it would mean a serious global warming crisis come early), but in case the weather still has to take it up a notch, I’ve decided to bring a touch of hot Greek summer to your kitchen.
Today’s dish is one of my favourite Greek dishes: Yemista – Greek stuffed peppers. Gemista simply means stuffed vegetables so there are loads of variations of this dish. It can be stuffed peppers, tomatoes, globe courgettes or aubergines, anything that’s, well, ‘stuffable’. The filling usually has either meat or cheese in it, but mine doesn’t and it tastes every bit as delicious. The most popular type of this dish that I’ve come across here has been stuffed tomatoes and peppers, but as I prefer the taste of peppers I’ve made a whole dish of those:). This dish reminds me of when Duncan and I came to Greece for a short holiday in 2012. I had countless versions of Gemista during that holiday as I fell in love with this dish (and Greece) then. We were so smitten by the place that when the holiday ended, we came back to London with a resolution to move to Paros. To begin with, no one took us seriously. Our family and friends thought it’s a silly decision made on the spur of the moment and that we weren’t going to go through with it, but they were wrong. It did take us 6 months more than we had planned to get our s**t together and we both questioned our sanity at one point or another… But we did it and despite some ups and downs we are so glad we did. We learned loads, it changed us in so many ways and we realised that doing something you truly love and are passionate about is totally worth ditching a soul-destroying (albeit well paid) job for. I’ve always had a bit of creative streak in me, but lack of confidence and fear has stopped me from exploring my options. Now, I get to use the right side of my brain on a daily basis and, at last, I don’t feel like a square peg in a round hole – something I’ve felt for years. So anyways, back to peppers. They are really tasty, filling and light at the same time. If you have time, make them a day in advance as it gives the flavours a chance to mingle and the dish ends up tasting so much better.
¼ cup / 60 ml / 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil ½ cup peeled and chopped tomatoes (1 medium tomato) 1 tbsp tomato paste ½ cup water salt & pepper, to taste
