Submitted by Kathy Kottaridis of Jamaica Plain, MA, who gets her tomatoes as well as her copy of Edible Boston at Allandale Farm in Brookline.

Here is our family's Stuffed Tomatoes recipe—straight off the 1912 boat with my Greek grandmother and her mother.... My own mother made these every summer when tomatoes were ready in our garden in Dover, NH (she also stuffed peppers and zucchini but tomatoes were the family favorite!).

1 ½ lbs ground beef

1 tablespoon dried spearmint or two tablespoons chopped fresh spearmint

1 large onion, diced

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup hot water

1 cup oil

1 cup rice

Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 450°.

Mix all ingredients above thoroughly. Cut tomatoes across the top and scoop the innards into a sieve set over a bowl; reserve the collected strained juices.  

Stuff each hollowed-out tomato with the beef-rice mixture.

Cover stuffed tomatoes with tops and pour strained tomato juice over them. Bake at 450° for about 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350° and cook for another 55 minutes.