Gemista

Gemista is a Greek dish of tomatoes and peppers, hollowed out, filled with herbed rice and baked in olive oil. The name comes from the Greek verb for filling, and it covers any vegetable stuffed this way, though tomatoes and peppers are the usual pair, often baked in the same dish. Similar stuffed vegetables are cooked across the eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans, so the method is shared across the region as well as being Greek.

What it really is

The top of each tomato and pepper is cut off and kept as a lid, and the insides are scooped out. The shells are filled with rice mixed with chopped parsley and dill, bound with olive oil. The vegetables go into an oiled dish, the lids are replaced, and everything is baked until the vegetable skins soften and the rice is tender. The rice is often added raw, since it cooks in the juice the tomatoes release.

The classic filling is rice, herbs and olive oil only, so the dish is vegan. Some cooks add minced meat to the rice, and that version is a meat dish.

How it's served

• Warm or at room temperature, with the baking juices spooned over the top.
• As a main course for a vegetarian meal, or as one dish among several on a shared table.
• With bread, to soak up the oil and juices.
• Sometimes with potatoes baked in the same dish, when the cook adds them.

How to write it on the menu

• Name the main ingredient, rice, and the vegetables: "Gemista: rice-stuffed tomato and pepper, baked in olive oil."
• The classic version has no declarable allergens. List any cheese, egg or bread crumbs added to the filling, since these bring in milk, eggs or wheat.
• State whether minced meat is used, because it changes the dish from vegan to a meat dish.
• Say whether it is served warm or at room temperature, and whether potatoes come with it.