Roast stuffed tomatoes with rice recipe

Roast stuffed tomatoes is a delicious meal that really feels like summer has arrived. By now, if you are a gardener, you might be starting to enjoy the fruits of your labour and are looking for a tasty plant-based recipe to use up the excess tomatoes!

We love that you can prepare this recipe earlier and then pop the stuffed tomatoes into the oven and leave to cook whilst you sit back and enjoy the garden and the long summer days.

If you have a lot of salad onions in your garden right now, you can replace the leek.  

Serving suggestion: serve with a large bowl of leafy salad (rocket, radicchio and watercress) topped with crunchy celery, grated carrot, garden fresh radish, topped with toasted pumpkins seeds and a handful of toasted walnuts for a tasty and nutritious light evening meal.

Time-saving tip: you can use up any left-over rice to make this dish. Next time you cook rice, do a little extra. Simply add the cooked rice into the pan when you are cooking vegetables to make it really easy.

Roast stuffed tomatoes with rice recipe

Serves: 8

Ingredients

1 cup brown or wholegrain rice
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp dried oregano
8 large Spanish tomatoes, top sliced off and seeds removed – keep the seeds
1 leek, finely sliced
1 carrot, peeled and cut into pieces
1 yellow pepper, cut into small chunks
Small chunk green or Chinese cabbage, finely cut
(tomato seeds from the inside of the tomatoes)
1 tbsp oregano
large handful fresh rosemary
2 tbsp lemon or lime juice
Small handful fresh chives

Optional: 1 tsp rice syrup (for added sweetness)

To garnish: chopped chives

Method

Cook the brown rice in water, together with the bay leaf and dried oregano – for 30-45 minutes (see packet instructions). Once cooked, drain, rinse in cold water and drain well. Place to one side.

Whilst the rice is cooking, prepare the tomatoes by removing the top/stem and hollowing out the middle removing the seeds.  Put the seeds to one side – we will use them when cooking the veggies.

Heat the oven to a low-medium heat: gas mark 3 / 165 degrees Celcius / 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cook the leek and carrot in a large frying pan, using water instead of oil to prevent sticking, for 5 minutes. Then add the yellow pepper, cabbage, tomato seeds, oregano, lemon / lime juice and rice syrup and continue to cook until the veggies are soft. Stir in the fresh chives.

Spoon the rice and veggie mixture into the tomatoes, gently pressing the mixture down into the tomatoes so that you fill up the middle. Place the top of the tomato onto the top of the rice mixture.

Place the stuffed tomatoes onto a baking tray and into the oven. Bake for 45 minutes. The tomatoes should start to soften and turn lightly golden brown. 

Serve hot, with a big bowl of fresh salad leaves and garden vegetables.

Plant-based food at La Crisalida health retreats 

Here at the retreat we cook with passion and attention, using seasonal vegetables where possible. All meals are cooked fresh in our kitchen, from the raw ingredients by our talented chefs. The plant-based (vegan) menu is carefully designed to provide balanced nutrition, to support your body achieve health and wellbeing. You can read more about the plant-based food at La Crisalida Retreats here. 

Each month we share new plant-based recipes (vegan recipes) on our health and wellbeing blog.  Sign-up for our newsletter to receive free recipes into your in-box. 

Let me know how you get on with this recipe, Lisa x