Loretta Sebastiani

Loretta Sebastiani
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Tomatoes filled with prawns and lentils
( Pomodori mari e monti )

Our original home cooking

Stuffed tomatoes are a must in summer. I prepare them for dinner and often in my meals, buffet-style, especially when they are ripe and can be eaten with a fork alone without any problem. This is the reason why this recipe serves 10 people. My tomatoes are stuffed with rice, lentils and shrimp. Only the filling requires cooking. A real delicacy! Example of Mediterranean diet.

difficulty: easy

time: 1 hour 20 minutes

calories: 249 (kCal)

tomatoes stuffed with lentils, rice, shrimp

Ingredients / Serves 10

  • 20 ripe round tomatoes
  • 150g (5 1/3 ounces) rice
  • 500g (1.1 pounds) prawn tails
  • 200g (7 ounces) dried red lentils
  • 2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
  • 1 dried bay leaf
  • 150g (5 1/3 ounces) fresh young onion, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 100g (3 1/2 ounces) puréed tomatoes
  • 5 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt
Difficulty:
easy recipe
Time:
preparation: 50 minutes
cooking: 30 minutes
total time: 1 hour 20 minutes
How many calories in a serving?
Calories: 249 (kcal) 13 % - 1043 (kJ)
Protein: 13.3 (g) 27 % GDA
Total fat: 8.7 (g) 13 % GDA
Total carbohydrate: 31.6 (g) 12 % GDA
Sugars: 9.3 (g) 11 % GDA

Download free PDF version (181 download).

Recipe for tomatoes stuffed with rice, lentils, shrimp

Preparation and cooking

  • - Prepare lentils.
    Remember not to choose the quality that needs soaking overnight.
    Wash and transfer them in a saucepan. Cover with abundant cold water, add the bay leaf and bring to a boil.
    At this point, reduce heat and simmer until tender, stirring now and then.
    Difficult to say the time you need. It depends on a lot of things. About 20 to 30 minutes.
    Drain very well, remove bay leaf and put apart.
  • - Prepare tomatoes.
    Wash them accurately under running water, remove their top, scoop out their flesh and seeds with a teaspoon, salt inside and turn them out on a platter, at least an hour, to let the excess of juice goes away.
  • - Shell shrimps and cut into two to three pieces.
  • - Continue with the other ingredients ...
    Let onion fry slightly in a non-stick pan in 3 tablespoons olive oil.
    Then add pureed tomatoes and tomato paste diluted in a little warm water.
    Complete cooking in very few minutes.
    Just before turning off the stove, add shrimps and stir.
    Turn off the stove.
    Add lentils, chives and parsley. Season to taste with salt.
    Stir with delicacy and accurately.
  • - Meanwhile ...
    ... cook rice in abundant salt water, drain very well and transfer into the pan with lentils and shrimps.
    Pour in the remaining olive oil.
    Stir very well.
    Season to taste with salt again, if necessary.
  • - Fill tomatoes with this mixture.
    Garnish with parsley sprigs and pieces of shrimps, if you want.

Just before serving

  • - Let your stuffed tomatoes flavor, 30 minutes.
    Serve at room temperature.

Note

Tips

  • - If you want, you can bake tomatoes for some minutes. In this case, cook rice until al dente stage.
  • - If you have any filling left, you can serve it apart: it's very tasty!

Menu planning

  • - It's a very tasty one-plate meal; you can complete it with seasonal vegetables and, naturally, fresh fruit. But it's a good idea for a meal, buffet-style too in summer.

Healthy eating

  • - Fiber per serving: 7.3 grams
  • - Calories and fat can be reduced further by reducing the amount of olive oil. In fact each tablespoon has 90 calories and 10 grams of fat.

Loretta

What's the right wine for " Tomatoes filled with prawns and lentils "?

Our suggestion is Grechetto dei Colli Martani (white wine from Umbria - Italy) or another white or rosè wine.