Stuffed Tomato Recipe

Ingredients:

8 large tomatoes

2 tbsp. sugar

4 tbsp. olive oil

1 large onion chopped fine

6-8 large garlic cloves chopped fine

1 lb. ground beef or lamb

1 tsp. ground pepper

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. each oregano, thyme and cinnamon

1 cup uncooked rice

1 cup chopped spearmint

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice a piece from the top of each tomato. Remove the pulp with a spoon. Save the pulp. Arrange tomatoes in a baking pan and sprinkle 1/2 tsp. sugar into each one. Heat 2 tbsp. of the olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. Saute onion for 2 minutes (until soft). Add garlic and saute for another 2 minutes. Add the meat, pepper, salt, thyme, oregano and cinnamon. Brown the meat until it is no longer pink (about 5 minutes). In a blender, chop the tomato pulp. Stir 3 cups of the pulp into the meat mixture. Add the uncooked rice and the speamint to the meat mixture and stir.

Cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes and fill the tomatoes, leaving room for the rice to swell. Replace the tomato tops, dot them with the remaining 2 tbsp. of olive oil and sprinkle with the parmesan cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes.