Recipes by George Maharis: Plaki; Sliced Tomatoes

George Maharis' Plaki

3 yellow onions, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons salad oil
About 1/3 cup dry white wine (or clam juice)
About 1/3 cup water
2 pounds fresh fish fillets: red snapper, sole or flounder
3-4 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons minced parsley
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Saute onions in salad oil until golden; add wine (or clam juice) and water. Heat to boiling point; lower heat. Add fillets to skillet with wine-onion mixture. Top each fillet with chopped tomatoes, parsley, bread crumbs, salt and pepper to taste. Add more liquid (wine or water) if needed. Cover and let simmer 15 minutes (or until fish begins to flake). Serve at once with Greek salad (made with lettuce, tomato, onion, green pepper, cucumber, feta cheese and vinegar-oil dressing, garnish with anchovy fillets or herring). Serves 6-8.

George Maharis' Sliced Tomatoes

6 medium-sized ripe tomatoes
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
A little sugar
2 yellow onions, peeled and finely chopped
About 4 tablespoons salad oil
1 cup rice (uncooked)
1 tablespoon currants
1 tablespoon pine nuts, chopped
2 tablespoons minced mint (or 1/2 tsp. dried mint)
2 tablespoons minced parsley
Bread crumbs

Wash tomatoes; cut thin slice from end opposite stem (use later as cap after stuffing tomatoes). Scoop out seeds and most of pulp. Sprinkle inside each tomato with salt, pepper and a little sugar; set aside (preferably overturned to drain). Saute onions in salad oil until golden. Chop tomato pulp, add to onions in skillet, with washed rice and remaining ingredients. Cook 5 minutes. Taste to correct seasonings. Stuff each tomato shell, sprinkle with bread crumbs; cover each with cap. Arrange stuffed tomatoes in baking dish. Bake in preheated 350 degrees F. oven about 20 minutes (or until rice is cooked). Serve cold as appetizer or hot as accompaniment to lamb.