Tomatoes Stuffed With Mince

Ingredients

Tomatoes 8

Onion ½

Carrot ½

Bacon or ham 100g

Lettuce leaves 2

Butter 1 tbsp

Sugar ½ tsp

Salt and pepper to taste

Peas 2 cups

Parsley 1 tbsp chopped

4 cups of cooked rice (see recipe)    300g of mince meat (see recipe)

Method

Cut the hats off the tomatoes, scoop out the centre and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place the minced meat inside the tomatoes and replace the hats.  Cook for about 30 minutes in a hot oven.  Put the frozen peas in a plastic container, cover with salty water and cook in a microwave for 3 minutes on high and then strain.  Peel and cut carrot, onion, and bacon/ham into ½ cm thick pieces.  Clean the lettuce and slice into strips.  Melt the butter in a saucepan and fry the bacon/ham.  After one minute, add carrot and onions and fry for another 3 minutes. Then add ½ cup of water, the parsley, salt and sugar.  Leave to simmer for about 10 minutes and then incorporate the peas and the lettuce.  Bring back to the boil, adjust the seasoning and you are ready to serve.

To serve, arrange the rice on the bottom of the serving plate, place the pea mixture on top and then the cooked tomatoes.  For variation you can replace the tomatoes with zucchini or eggplant.