Mediterranean Spiced Quinoa Stuffed Roma Tomatoes

Do you ever have those mornings where all you can think is "Gee, I really want some stuffed Roma tomatoes today." No? Yeah, usually me neither. However, this morning was an exception. A best friend's mom (cosmos bless her soul) used to make these absolutely delicious pesto and prosciutto stuffed Roma tomatoes. I could eat a hundred of them at any given moment...

     So, with this in mind I set out to create a recipe similar to that. Another best friend of mine's mom makes pork gyros that are equally to die for, and my very best friend's mom recently went vegetarian. Inspired to capture these three amazing mothers in one dish, I came up with my Mediterranean Spiced Quinoa Stuffed Roma Tomatoes!
  I began with roasting two small heads of garlic and a red bell pepper.

I then quartered and diced a red onion and a zucchini, sauteed them for about 5 minutes before adding two heaping spoonfuls of gyro seasoning (a secret blend given to my friend's mom from a Turkish woman in Germany--lots of paprika, oregano and other herbs, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper essentially), a cup of quinoa and 2 cups of water that I had boiling in a separate pan.

 

 

After the quinoa was done cooking (about 20 minutes on low, similar preparation as rice) I added it to the roasted garlic, diced roasted red pepper, and some diced kalamata olives. After mixing them well, I folded in fresh parsley and some feta cheese, then spooned the mixture into my halved and hollowed out Roma tomatoes. I used cupcake pans to keep a bowl-like shape. They went into the oven at 375 degrees for 30 minutes and BAM! These babies are amazingly delectable, and I am sure I have done the mothers who inspired them justice!

Mediterranean Spiced Quinoa Stuffed Roma Tomatoes

12 Roma tomatoes, halved and hollowed out

2 small heads of roasted garlic*

1 roasted red bell pepper**

1 red onion, quartered and sliced

1 small zucchini, quartered and diced

1 cup quinoa

1/8 cup diced kalamata olives

1/4 cup  feta cheese crumbles

Small handful fresh parsley, chopped

2 heaping tablespoons gyro seasoning, or similar Mediterranean blend

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cups boiling water (to cook quinoa)

1. Prepare roasted garlic and red bell pepper (recipe below).

2. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium in a medium sized pot. Add the red onion and sautee 5 minutes, then add zucchini and cook another 5 minutes. Add the seasoning and quinoa, mix well, then add the boiling water, cover and cook on low for 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, place tomatoes skin side down in a greased cupcake tray or on a baking tray and season with salt and pepper.

4. When quinoa is finished cooking, mix with the roasted garlic, diced red pepper, and kalamata olives. Fold in the fresh parsley and feta cheese at the end.

5. Spoon mixture into the tomato halves and bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool a couple minutes and dig in!

*Roasted garlic

Chop the top off a whole head of garlic. Place on a piece of foil and drizzle a bit of olive oil and season with salt and pepper on top. Bake at 425 for 35-45 minutes. Let cool then squeeze the cloves from the head by pinching at the base.

**Roasted Bell Pepper

Place whole bell pepper on baking sheet and bake at 425 for 35-45 minutes, turning every ten minutes or so to get the skin and flesh evenly cooked. Remove from oven and place in a bowl then cover for 5 minutes (I prefer plastic wrap, but anything will work as all you are doing is allowing the heat from the pepper to steam itself). Scrape the skin from the bell pepper, cut in half and remove seeds and membrane.