Tomatoes Stuffed With Barley, Cilantro And Almonds

Total Time: 1 hr 55 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 25 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 12 medium tomatoes, perfectly round for easy stuffing
• 1 cup olive oil
• 3 cups minced onions (3 large)
• 1 cup pearl barley, plus
• 2 tablespoons pearl barley
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped unskinned almonds
• 1 cup minced cilantro
• 1 cup minced parsley
• 1/2 cup minced dill
• 1/2 cup minced spearmint
• 1 -2 large potato, peeled and cut into wedges

Recipe

• 1 cut a lid off the top of the tomatoes and empty tomatoes of their pulp.
• 2 keep 2 ½ cups of the tomato flesh and pulp it (you may freeze the rest for future use, or puree to use in a sauce in the next day or two).
• 3 preheat oven to 360 degrees f.
• 4 in a deep frying-pan, heat half the oil and saute the onion until soft, about 8-10 minutes.
• 5 add cilantro and pearl barley and saute, stirring occasionally for 1 minute.
• 6 add 2 cups of the tomato pulp and simmer for 5 minutes.
• 7 remove from heat and stir in almonds and herbs.
• 8 season to taste, and stuff tomatoes with this mixture, distributing equally.
• 9 replace lids on tomatoes.
• 10 put tomatoes in a baking pan large enough to contain them all fairly snugly and fill the gaps with wedges of potato.
• 11 puree remaining tomato with ½ cup oil and ½ cup water.
• 12 season to taste.
• 13 pour this over the tomatoes.
• 14 bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
• 15 turn off oven and leave tomatoes in oven 15 minutes longer.
• 16 remove from oven and allow to come to room temperature before serving (they are best that way).
• 17 serve with feta cheese and crusty bread.