When Tomatoes Are This Good: Spilled Milk #346

A taste of summer in Rome: Pomodori al Riso is the cook-ahead and serve-room-temp-to-lukewarm summer tomato dish you didn’t know you needed this badly

When tomatoes are this good, you don’t need much else. Recently, I was looking at the Gustiamo website and saw their version of this dish, and I immediately knew what I would make for you today. It’s Rome week, after all.

Rome: Spilled Milk #345

Pomodori al Riso — those summery, Roman, oven-baked tomatoes stuffed with herbed rice — are Italy’s answer to “why not just make the whole thing edible?” They’re a fixture in home kitchens and rosticcerie in and around Rome, typically baked alongside thin-skinned potatoes that drink up the tomato juices and olive oil until they're borderline confit. I like it with potatoes but abandoned that preparation long ago; it’s too much for summertime. I serve them as a side dish with grilled meat, poultry or fish. Or on their own

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The classic filling is deceptively simple: raw arborio (or other short-grain rice) mixed with the scooped-out tomato pulp, olive oil, garlic, basil, onion and grated Caciocavallo, Parmigiano or Pecorino. My trick? Letting the rice soak in the tomato juices long enough (often a few hours) before stuffing and baking, so it swells slowly in the oven and doesn’t end up chewy or parched.