Ingredients:
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 potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
Directions:
Cut a lid off the top of the tomatoes and empty tomatoes of their pulp.
Keep 2 1/2 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).
Preheat oven to 360 degrees F.
In a deep frying-pan, heat half the oil and saute the onion until soft, about 8-10 minutes.
Add cilantro and pearl barley and saute, stirring occasionally for 1 minute.
Add 2 cups of the tomato pulp and simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in almonds and herbs.
Season to taste, and stuff tomatoes with this mixture, distributing equally.
Replace lids on tomatoes.
Put tomatoes in a baking pan large enough to contain them all fairly snugly and fill the gaps with wedges of potato.
Puree remaining tomato with 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup water.
Season to taste.
Pour this over the tomatoes.
Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Turn off oven and leave tomatoes in oven 15 minutes longer.
Remove from oven and allow to come to room temperature before serving (they are best that way).
Serve with feta cheese and crusty bread.
Servings: 6-8
Time preparation: 30 min.
Time total: 115 min.