Sara Moulton

Aug 4, 2008

Vegetarian Yemista
Entrees

My guest for Episode 110 of my new public television show, Sara's Weeknight Meals is Michael Psilakis, Chef/Owner of restaurants Kefi, Anthos, and Mia Dona in New York City. On the show, Chef Psilakis prepares three weeknight meals that are inspired by classic Greek dishes. All are perfect make-aheads to be prepared on a weekend and served on a busy Monday evening or frozen for later use. His recipe for Vegetarian Yemista, a vegetarian stuffed-vegetable dish, follows and you can go to Weeknight Meals to find the two additional recipes as well as tips for preparation, equipment suggestions, and ingredient information.

Makes 5 servings
Hands-on time: 30 minutes
Total preparation time: 45 minutes

4 cups short grain white rice
5 Beefsteak tomatoes
5 yellow bell peppers
5 eight-ball squash
Extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups cauliflower florets
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
8 porcini mushrooms, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery stalk, chopped
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup white wine
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons fresh basil
2 teaspoons fresh dill
2 teaspoons dry Greek oregano
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
Kosher salt
Freshly milled black pepper

Preheat oven to 350°F. Rinse rice with water and reserve. Remove and reserve tops from tomatoes, peppers, and squash. Remove centers from tomatoes and squash and place in the bowl of a food processor. Remove centers of peppers; discard seeds and add any usable trimmings to food processor. Pulse to coarsely chop and combine vegetables; reserve.

Warm 2 tablespoons olive oil in a braising pan over medium heat, add cauliflower, onion, mushrooms, carrot, celery, and garlic; sweat for 3 minutes. Add chopped vegetables and sauté for another 2 minutes. Add rice and wine, stirring to coat rice and deglaze pan. Add 6 cups water, the vinegar, tomato paste, basil, dill, oregano, thyme, and desired amount of salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.

Brush tomato, pepper, and squash shells with olive oil and arrange in a baking pan. Using a slotted spoon, fill vegetables 3/4 of the way with rice and vegetable mixture, add liquid from pan to fill; cover with the appropriate vegetable top. Pour any remaining liquid into the bottom of the pan and bake until the rice has cooked and the vegetable shells are tender, about 45 minutes.

To serve, divide stuffed vegetables onto plates, drizzle with pan juices and some olive oil.