(Heath check: I’m still drinking lots of water but I do pee a bit less that before. That’s all for now, folks…)
Well, mama is into her summer recipes so today we’re putting in a one of our favorite Italian dishes that you eat at room temp. So easy, so healthy, and with all the great tomatoes around, it should not be difficult to assemble anywhere.
While mama does the work, I get a little nip of goat cheese or mozzarella to keep me occupied. Love that chevre. You could even tuck a little into the middle of these tomatoes for a surprise, or small cubes of mozzarella.
(Mama makes them plain and simple, with focaccia and goat cheese or mozz on the side.)
Hmmm. Do goats eat goat cheese? Maybe they do.
Pommodori al riso (rice-stuffed tomatoes)
Okay, pick out 4 perfect tomatoes, round, any color, and cut off the tops a half-inch down the tomato. Into the bowl of a food processor, scoop out all the tomato pulp, leaving a nice tomato shell. Sprinkle with salt and put a little olive oil in each shell.
Chop up all the tomato pulp with a few fresh basil leaves, salt and pepper, and stir in a generous tablespoon of raw arborio rice for each shell.
Divide this mixture evenly among the four shells and replace the tops.
Cut up a large peeled potato into bite-sized cubes and scatter the cubes around the tomatoes in the baking dish. These will help stabilize the tomatoes as they cook.
Pour a little more olive oil over everything and bake in a hot oven, 375F/190C for about 45 minutes or until the tops of the tomatoes are slightly browned and caramelized and the liquid is almost all absorbed.
Turn off the oven and let the tomatoes sit in the oven until you eat them, as the juice will evaporate a bit more and the tops will become wrinkly and delicious.
These are good picnic food, too, as they do not need to be heated up.
Happy day after Pentecost.
Summer’s coming…YAY, yay, I’m all shook up!
Mmmm…looks yummy. And the best part? You got a little cheese, Loulou!
Yep, that mozz is one of my favorites!
WOW! That looks really super delicious! The Farmers Markets have gorgeous tomatoes now and Mom says this will be on the menu for her and Dad for sure. Thanks so much Loulou and please give your Mom a hug from us for passing on the recipe! We also hope that you are feeling well dear girl. We worry about you. Why? Well we love our friends a WHOLE LOT.
Hugs, Teddy
Well we are a bit worried also but I am behaving at times as if I were 10 years younger so perhaps that’s the insulin. I’m sure with time all of this will work out very well. Meanwhile keep healthy all of you with stuffed tomatoes! Thank you for sweet thoughts.
That looks absolutely delicious, Loulou – yum!
And they are so, so easy. You cannot overcook these as they get better and better as they caramelize!
That sounds so VERY yummy!!
Maybe I will break my tomato fast and enjoy this. Would that work in peppers, too?
(I try to not eat nightshade plants, even though I love them…not having them in my food/diet has helped quite a bit with my sore/swollen joints.)
Doesn’t work that well with peppers but you could try. But there is no pulp in peppers to mix with the rice! And mama only uses red or yellow peppers because green peppers are…well…green, NOT ripe! Plus they are not as sweet as the yellow and red ones.
Are there a “Can Cats Eat” – there’s a doggie that I consult often! And who knows!? I’ve marked off things I thought Mya could eat! Justa thought!
OH, we have a list a mile long but she has to go slowly with foods and they have to be for diabetic kitties. She’s find with Animonda…four flavors!
That’s even better!!!
YES.
OMC, these look delicious and sound super easy to make. Please thank your mom for us. XOCK, angel Lily Olivia, angel Mauricio, Misty May, angel Giulietta, angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo, Cooper Murphy, Sawyer & Kizmet
Let us know if you try! They are SOOOOOO good. Well, the little piece of cheese is good that is.
That food sure looks yummy Loulou! I hope you’re not overly drinking too much.
Ha ha, yes I am a water addict. Evidently I have to pee out the baddies so it’s normal to drink but I go easy on the single malt.
Alas ! It will beawhile before we can get purrfect tomatoes over here…but this certainly sounds delicious – and easy !
Well, you’ll be glad you did!
Thank you for the recipe. They look great. It will be a while until we have some from the garden, but when we do, I will try it. XO
Oh, mama thinks you will LOVE them. So fresh and so tasty…only use fresh basil.
Drink up and pee, Loulou!
As vegans, we don’t have cheese in the house, but one meal that we order from our favorite mediterranean restaurant comes with a tiny container of greek yoghurt, which Chili Bruce licks up.
In the pre-vegan days, we had grated parmesan cheese around, which cats LOVED on their food as a topping.
Nowadays, we use brewer’s yeast/nutritional yeast for a topping if any kitty needs a bit of encouragement to eat.
The yeasty smell works!
Will try that for sure. Mama knows about brewer’s yeast for sure and we use parmesan,too. Her nephew makes beer and we eat so much parmesan! Merci. Mama would go bonkers without eggs and cheese.
our tomato season still haz about 2 weeks to go before they show up at the farmers market. we lubz da recipeez. mum uses the giadas recipe for herb stuffed toms.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/herb-stuffed-tomatoes-recipe-1916800
Looks really good and we could add the rice. Use olive oil instead of butter but oh that butter’s good too.