Cheese Stuffed Tomatos

Cheese Stuffed Tomatos

Ingredients:
6 large, firm tomatoes
1 cup cooked rice
1/2 lb. swiss cheese (2 cups shredded)
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp. marjoram
1/3 tsp. fresh ground pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease shallow baking dish.
Cut off top 1/4–inch from each tomato and set tops aside. Scoop out pulp from
tomatoes. Drain excess liquid from pulp and set aside.
Heat butter in skillet. Add onion and celery and cook over medium heat until
tender.
© Aliske Webb 1999. Published by Bookmice.com
The Quilt Inn Country Cookbook Aliske Webb
In mixing bowl combine onion and celery with rice, cheese, tomato pulp,
mushrooms, salt, marjoram and pepper. Spoon mixture into tomato shells. Replace
tops. Place in baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve
immediately.
© Aliske Webb 1999. Published by Bookmice.com
The Quilt Inn Country Cookbook Aliske Webb
It’s All Greek To Me
One of our favorite quotes from the movie Zorba the Greek goes, “What I eat I
turn into work and good humor.” Whether it’s in song, dance or food, Greeks love to
share the joyful spirit. This would be called a joie de vivre but of course that’s an
entirely different language, so instead. that phrase having already been taken, it’s
called philoxenia.
A friend from the old neighborhood, where we lived before the Quilt Inn days,
came by to stay with us. George Spirodopolous brought Christina, his wife, and little
Georgio (who was at this time, five years older, a foot and a half taller and more
worried about girls since we had last seen him!) It wasn’t long before they had
commandeered the Inn kitchen, and several volunteers, to prepare some Greek
specialties for our lucky guests.
The emphasis of Greek food is simple preparation and wholesome ingredients
which make it perfect “country cooking” for The Quilt Inn. And, it is relatively unchanged
since Archestratus wrote the very first cookbook over 2000 years ago. Unfortunately,
it was not a best seller. Since every recipe had to be chiselled on pieces of slate,
(“carved in stone” we refer to it today), the book not only took many decades to
complete but weighed more than the average Greek cupboard could hold. Can you
imagine checking it out of the Romus Librarius? “Two days overdue, eh, Spiros? Get
your hernia fixed—you have a date with the lions!”)
Two things we discovered about Greek food from George and his family. First,
much of the food is prepared with olive oil, which in today’s health conscious eating is
very good because it holds cholesterol levels down. Second, the food keeps extremely
well, not only providing great leftovers but often tasting better the second time around.
Legend has it that Greek food is so aromatically delicious that one can swoon