Spiced Lamb Stuffed Tomatoes

Submitted by: JustRightMenus

Description:

 A great summertime recipe - cook extra rice a few days ahead, as part of a different meal, and you'll be ready to go. This recipe also works well with leftover leg of lamb, sliced/shredded thinly (in place of ground lamb).

You can prepare this meal ahead of time and store it in the refrigeartor. Just add another 10 minutes to the baking time, since you'll be starting from refrigerator-cold instead of freshly-cooked.

Servings: 6-8

Categories: lamb, mint, tomatoes

From the kitchen of:

epicurious.com

Ingredients

6 to 8 large tomatoes (at least 3" diameter)

2 TB butter

1 large onion, chopped

1 pound ground lamb

1/2 c. dry red wine

1/4 c. chopped fresh mint

4 TB chopped fresh parsley (reserve half for garnish)

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp salt

3/4 c. cooked rice (original recipe called for white; I use brown)

1/4 c. plain, dry breadcrumbs

1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cut off top third of tomatoes; chop tops and reserve. Scoop out seeds, juice, and pulp from tomatoes and discard - or save & freeze for ingredients in homemade tomato sauce. 

I make the full recipe quantity of stuffing but only stuff 2 tomatoes, freezing the remainder of the stuffing (divided into 2 freezer bags) for future use. To make up for only having the tops of 2 tomatoes to add, I go ahead and add the innards of each tomato to the stuffing.

Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat.

Add onion and sauté until tender and golden, about 8 minutes.

Add lamb and sauté until browned, about 7 minutes.

Add chopped tomato tops, wine, mint, half the parsley, and the cinnamon and salt. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until mixture thickens, stirring frequently. Stir in cooked rice.

Place tomatoes in 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Spoon lamb mixture into tomatoes. Sprinkle each tomato with 1/2 tablespoon breadcrumbs, then 1 tablespoon cheese.

Bake until heated through and cheese begins to turn golden, about 25 minutes.

Sprinkle with remaining parsley before serving.