Gefülltes Gemüse (stuffed vegetables)
Bell peppers, zucchini and tomatoes hollowed out and filled with a rice, vegetable and cheese stuffing, baked together in one dish until the vegetables have collapsed just enough to hold their shape but no longer resist the fork. Salting the hollowed shells and letting them drain briefly before filling keeps the stuffing from turning watery in the oven.
Prep30 min
Cook50 min
Servings4
Christoph's stuffed vegetables, the hollowed shells salted and drained before filling so the oven bake doesn't turn watery.
Ingredients
Written for a 3 L dish
Units
Temperature
Servings
Vegetables
- 2 bell peppers, halved lengthwise, seeds removed rounded
- 2 zucchini, halved lengthwise, centre scooped out rounded
- 4 large tomatoes, tops cut off, centre scooped out and reserved rounded
- to taste fine salt, for salting the hollowed shells rounded
Filling
- 150 g long-grain rice rounded
- 150 g onion, finely chopped rounded
- 2 garlic cloves rounded
- 30 ml olive oil rounded
- 100 g reserved tomato and zucchini flesh, chopped rounded
- 10 g dried oregano rounded
- 100 g shredded cheese, such as Gouda or Emmental rounded
- to taste fine salt rounded
- to taste freshly ground black pepper rounded
Dietary labels are a guide, not a guarantee. If you have an allergy, read the ingredients yourself.
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan). Salt the inside of the hollowed pepper, zucchini and tomato shells and set them cut-side down on a rack for 10 minutes to drain.
- Cook the rice according to the package until just short of tender, about 2 minutes less than fully cooked, since it will finish cooking in the oven. Drain.
- Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Sauté the onion and garlic for 4 minutes until soft. Add the reserved tomato and zucchini flesh and cook for 5 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated.
- Stir in the rice, oregano, half the cheese, salt and pepper.
- Pat the vegetable shells dry and arrange them cut-side up in a baking dish. Fill generously with the rice mixture, mounding it slightly. Top with the remaining cheese.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and the cheese is melted and lightly browned.
Notes
- Salt and drain the hollowed shells before filling. Peppers, zucchini and tomatoes all release water as they bake; salting draws some of it out in advance so the finished dish isn’t watery.
- Undercook the rice slightly before filling. It absorbs moisture and finishes cooking in the oven; fully cooked rice can turn mushy by the time the vegetables are tender.
- Tomatoes cook faster than peppers and zucchini, so check them a few minutes early if baking all three together, and remove any that collapse before the rest are done.
- Leftovers reheat well in the oven or microwave for a day or two.
Ingredient substitutions
- Rice can be swapped for bulgur or quinoa, cooked the same way.
- A handful of pine nuts or currants in the filling is a common Mediterranean addition.
- Ground meat browned with the onion turns this into a heartier, non-vegetarian version.
From Christoph Mayer