My husband decided to make a famous traditional vegetarian Greek dish called Fasolakia. This is simply made of green beans, potatoes, zucchini, onions, garlic cooked in a tomato sauce and seasoned with salt, pepper and dried oregano. And I was also in the mood to cook tonight. When am I not? I decided to join the fun, opened up a nice red and made another typical Greek dish, my way.

We have so many fresh vegetables from the garden so I decided to make Gemista (stuffed vegetables). This is actually one of my favourite dish! I used the vegetables that I had (tomatoes, eggplants and zucchini) but you can also use peppers or just about any veggies. Gemista is often stuffed with rice, chopped vegetables, and ground beef or other meat but of course my recipe is vegetarian and I never forget about protein. I did use brown rice but also used mashed fava beans, puy lentils and nutritional yeast for extra protein and also for b12 and iron.

• 2 Tbsp of grape seed oil
• 4 tomatoes
• 3 medium eggplants
• 2 small zucchini
• 6 button mushrooms, finely chopped
• 1/2 sweet onions, finely chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup brown rice pre-cooked
• 1/4 cup of puy lentils uncooked, rinsed
• 1/2 cup of cooked fava beans, mashed
• 2 kale leafs, chopped
• A small bunch of fresh mint, chopped
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1 mushroom bouillon cube
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• Dried oregano
• Olive oil
• 2 Tbsp of nutritional yeast fortified with B12- optional

Slice off the top of your vegetables, remove their inside and reserved for later. Chop the mushrooms, onion and garlic.

In a hot pan, heat 4-5 Tbsp of grape seed oil,  cook the onions and garlic at medium heat for 2 minutes or until onions are translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the chopped zucchini, eggplants and tomatoes and continue cooking on medium high for 5 minutes while stirring a few times. Season with oregano, salt and pepper. Add the lentils and tomatoes purée. Add 2 Tbsp of nutritional yeast and mix well.   Add the mushroom bouillon cube. It adds a nice flavour to the dish. Add more liquid if you feel it has evaporated too quickly. You can always adjust the consistency. Simmer for 15 minutes. You can then add the pre-cooked rice, mashed fava beans, fresh mint and kale. Adjust the seasoning.

Place the vegetables in a Pyrex pan and you fill them up with filling mixture. Drizzle with olive oil. Add a bit of water and cover your pan with foil or parchment paper. Bake this at 450 degrees for the first 30 minutes and then reduce to 375 degrees. You may need to add some water. Remove the foil after 45 minutes and let it cook, uncovered for another 15-20 minutes or until you feel that the veggies are a bit soggy.

Kalí Órexi!

XO