Ingredients
8 Medium or 6 Large, Ripe Tomatoes (Truss if possible)
500g Lamb Mince
1 Large Onion Finely Chopped
50gm Pine Nuts
1 tsp. Sea Salt
1 Tablespoon Baharat Spice mix
Or 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon All Spice
Small Handful Finely Chopped Fresh Parsley
1 Tin Organic Chopped Tomato or 250ml Passata
1 Grated Zucchini (optional)
50ml Homemade Chicken Stock
50gms Butter
Olive Oil
Method
Preheat oven to 180° degrees
Before cutting the tomatoes, find a deep baking dish that will snuggly fit all them for baking.
Cut a lid off each tomato (1cm thick), reserving the stops and with a large spoon, carefully scoop out the pulp from each tomato. Reserve and finely dice.
Toast the pine nuts on a medium heat in a dry pan until golden brown, remove from heat and set aside.
In a large frying pan, sauté the onions on a medium heat in butter and a dash of olive oil. Once translucent (you do not want them brown), throw in the lamb mince and turn up the heat to a high and cook for a 2-3 minutes, breaking up large pieces with a fork whilst stirring through.
Stir in the spices, salt, pine nuts and parsley. Cook for a couple more minutes, until golden brown then remove from heat.
Place the reserved pulp, tinned tomatoes (with the liquid) and zucchini into the bottom of the baking dish.
Spoon enough of the lamb mixture into each hollowed out tomato so that it is just overflowing, then place the lid of the tomato lightly on top. Add each tomato into the baking dish, pushing it each down lightly into the pulp. You want the liquid coming up to about half of the tomatoes’ height, so if there is too much liquid, remove some, if not enough liquid then add some chicken stock, making sure you stir it through.
Bake uncovered for 40-50 minutes until the tops are golden brown.
Serve hot with some Lebanese Rice!
©Tim Elwin 2012
