I have many fond memories of eating gemista cold from the fridge together with an ice-cold beer and good company. But my most vivid memory of the dish was preparing it as a kid with my grandmother on the island of Aegina, where she spent her summers. Down the street from her house was an old bakery with a traditional wood-burning oven. It was common back then for people to prepare food at home in the morning and then take it to the local baker, who would bake it in their oven. We would go back to pick up the finished dish during lunchtime – believe me, there’s nothing better than a tray of gemista baked in wood-burning oven!

I have now perfected my grandmother’s gemista recipe, and even though I don’t often get to bake them in a wood-burning oven, I always enjoy them just as much I used to as a child.

6 tomatoes, medium-large and ripe
3 green peppers
2 red peppers
2 medium-sized eggplants
4 round zucchinis (long zucchinis can be substituted, but I recommend selecting for shorter and wider ones)
5-6 potatoes peeled, cut in half crosswise and then quartered

220 ml olive oil
3 large onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 large carrot, grated
2 tsp dried oregano
500 gr white carolina rice or risotto rice
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
½ cup chopped fresh mint
330 gr very ripe tomatoes (around four small or two large, for pulsing in blender)
200 ml water + 100 ml water
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
Salt
Black pepper

Wash the vegetables and pat them dry.

Neatly slice off the top part of the stem (it will work as a lid).

Place all your vegetables in a large, deep baking pan.

Start with the tomatoes and scoop out their insides with a teaspoon.

Put all the tomato pulp in a blender and briefly pulse.

Remove all seeds from the peppers.

Scoop out the eggplants and zucchinis (if using long zucchinis, scoop out the insides with a zucchini corer rather than a teaspoon), and finely chop the insides you’ve removed.

Place a deep, large skillet on medium heat.

Add 50 ml of olive oil and sauté the onion for a couple of minutes until golden.

Add in the garlic and stir for another minute before adding the chopped zucchini and eggplant and the grated carrot.

Stir for another minute and add in the rice to sauté.

Add salt and pepper to taste and stir until the rice is glossy.

Add in the pulsed tomatoes, stir for a couple of minutes and add 100 ml of water.

Stir until most of the liquid is cooked down (it should not look completely dry but rather should still be juicy).

The rice should be very undercooked otherwise it will go mushy.

Remove from heat, add in the oregano and fresh herbs, and stir.

Adjust salt if necessary.

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Start filling the hollowed vegetables using a teaspoon.

Don’t overstuff them, as the rice will expand when cooked through (leave about 1 cm from the top).

Place the tops of the vegetables back on.

Mix the potatoes with salt and pepper and place them between the vegetables in the baking pan.

Put the rest of the tomatoes in a blender along with the rest of the olive oil and water.

Pulse until smooth and season with salt and pepper.

Pour the sauce on top of the vegetables and into the baking dish.

Sprinkle the vegetables with the breadcrumbs and bake for about 60-70 minutes on the low rack of your oven, until they look almost charred.

Remove from the oven and let stand for about 15 mins before serving. Serve with a slice of feta.

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