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Pomodori col Riso alla Romana
Created by Chef Graziella
Roman stuffed tomatoes, baked until the lids char and the rice drinks in every drop of summer. Served at room temperature, as tradition demands, these are the taste of August in Rome.
Walk into any rosticceria in Rome during the summer months and you will find these tomatoes, lined up in the window, their tops blackened and wrinkled, waiting for someone with sense to take them home. They are never served hot. They wait, patiently, as good things do.
The genius of this dish is that the rice cooks inside the tomato, absorbing every drop of juice, every bit of essence. You do not boil the rice first. You pack it in raw, wet with tomato pulp and olive oil, and the oven does the rest. The tomato becomes both vessel and sauce. What remains at the end is inseparable: rice that tastes of tomato, tomato that has given everything to the rice.
Romans tuck potatoes around the tomatoes as they bake. These are not a garnish. They roast in the juices that escape, becoming soft and saturated with flavor. To leave them out is to miss the point. The whole pan works together. Nothing is wasted.
Ingredients
large round tomatoes
Quantity
8 (about 8 ounces each)
ripe but firm
Arborio rice
Quantity
1 cup
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
minced very fine
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| large round tomatoesripe but firm | 8 (about 8 ounces each) |
| Arborio rice | 1 cup |
| garlic clovesminced very fine | 2 |
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