My dad's Greek stuffed tomatoes are a perfect summer dinner

First, add a drizzle of olive oil to a large sauté pan over medium heat. The onion should cook for a couple of minutes, until browned.

Season the beef with salt and freshly ground black pepper for extra flavor. Only use half of the parsley you've prepped.

Use a spatula or wooden spoon to break up the ground beef, cooking it until the meat has browned. This will take around five minutes, until most of the water in the sauce has reduced. Don't let the filling get too dry. We need some liquid to help the rice cook in the oven.

Give it one last mix, and your filling is done.

Remember, the rice will expand in the oven. Make sure you don't overfill the cups.

Depending on the size of your tomatoes, you might have some extra filling. Since it contains raw rice, there's not much you can do with it. If you have extra tomatoes, you can always scoop them out and fill them with the extra stuffing. Or adjust your recipe next time to use less ground beef.

Add half a cup of water to the pan, along with a spoonful of olive oil. Both help prevent the tomato cups from sticking to the pan.

Place the baking dish on the middle rack of your oven, set to 360 degrees Fahrenheit. It takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes to cook the yemista, depending on the oven. Check on them around the 45-minute mark.

Scoop a bit of the stuffing from a tomato and taste it to see if the rice is cooked. If it still tastes chewy or crispy, the yemista needs more baking time.

This helps the yemista cool and absorb all those delicious flavors you worked so hard on.

Season the stuffed tomatoes with some oregano and freshly cracked black pepper. You can also serve them topped with a yogurt-and-garlic sauce, just like my grandfather always loved.

To make the sauce, take one cup of Greek yogurt and add a minced clove of garlic. Mix everything together, then add a teaspoon or more on top of each stuffed tomato, depending on your preference.

Yemista also goes great with my dad's Greek potatoes.

Yemista is perfect for the summer, when tomatoes are at their peak. I love the blistered texture of the roasted tomatoes, which are juicy and subtly sweet. The combination of the rice and beef is always comforting. The dish is colorful and healthy – a hallmark of the Mediterranean diet beloved by Greeks.

When I was a kid and my parents made yemista with both tomatoes and peppers, I never ate the pepper shells. I always asked for more tomatoes. My best friend, Nausheen, would always request it whenever she came over for dinner in high school. She still talks about it to this day.

Whenever you decide to eat it, I hope my dad's yemista brings you as much joy and comfort as it has given me through the decades.