As long as I knew my Italian mother-in-law, Misa Fornari, she made rice stuffed tomatoes every summer. It is a summer dish because it’s best when made with full flavor, ripe-from-the-garden tomatoes. The recipe is simple and delicious.
When it’s tomato harvest season, save the largest ones for making rice-stuffed tomatoes.
You need:
As many ripe garden tomatoes as you have.
Good quality (fresh) olive oil.
Garlic, chopped/smashed or roasted.
Fresh basil.
Rice. My mother-in-law used Uncle Ben’s, which is par-boiled and so cooks faster. I use regular long-grain white rice. Same flavor but longer cooking time.
Heat your oven to 350°
Here’s the Process:
Cut the tops off of your tomatoes and save them. Scoop out the insides into a bowl. Place the hollowed out tomatoes in an oiled baking dish.
Break up the tomato insides with a potato masher, fork or your hands. Add chopped basil. Add either chopped or smashed garlic, or roasted garlic. I use about one clove of garlic for every 2 tomatoes. Next add olive oil, and this is the important part: don’t skimp on the oil. For medium tomatoes add 2 teaspoons per tomato. For large tomatoes (3″ or larger) use 1 Tablespoon of oil per tomato. Mix all of that together. Salt and pepper if you wish.
Put raw rice into each tomato. About a tablespoon per tomato – slightly more if your tomatoes are very large. The ones pictured were medium size tomatoes.
Spoon your basil-garlic-tomato-oil mixture into the shells over the rice.
Place the reserved tops back on the tomatoes.
Cover the dish and place it into the oven. Bake at 350° – about 35 minutes if you use parboiled rice, but 50 to 60 minutes if you use long grain white or brown rice.
Taste a bit of the rice when these come out of the oven to be sure it’s cooked. Let the tomatoes cool. This dish is best served at room temperature or cold as a salad.
Buon appetito!
I make these with roasted garlic since we roast and freeze our garlic crop every summer and I have bags of pre-roasted garlic ready to use.
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