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We never pass up the chance to cook with ripe summer tomatoes. From the humble tomato sandwich and Southern tomato pie, to pico de gallo and bruschetta, every tomato recipe is better when you make it in the summer. This sort of focus on seasonal ingredients is something that Jamie Oliver, author of 5 Ingredients Mediterranean: Simple Incredible Food, is a master of. So when he shared his recipe for a simple but satisfying roasted tomato risotto that puts the seasonal veg in the spotlight, we knew we had to try it.
Here’s what Oliver has to say about his recipe. “I’ll keep singing the praises of the humble tomato from the rooftop,” the chef exclaimed on Instagram. “I’ve kept the risotto itself very simple and elegant and then added a juicy, sweet, roasted tomato to serve, as well as a drizzle of its roasting juices…..a total game changer.” For best results, use tomatoes from your own garden or the farmer’s market, but even grocery store tomatoes are better in the summer.
5 Ingredients Mediterranean: Simple Incredible Food by Jamie Oliver
The first thing you’ll need to do is to core your tomatoes, then fit them in a baking dish with a bulb of garlic, fresh thyme sprigs, and a drizzle of olive oil. We like using a flavored olive oil here to add a little more nuance to the recipe, like Heraclea Organic Extra Virgin Garlic Infused Olive Oil.
Heraclea Organic Extra Virgin Garlic Infused Olive Oil
While the tomato is roasting, Oliver starts to work on the risotto. He cooks onion and chopped fennel in butter until softened, then toasts the rice (arborio rice is a must for risotto), deglazes the pan with white vermouth, and slowly adds ladlefuls of veggie stock to the skillet while stirring the rice constantly.
RiceSelect Arborio Rice
It will take between 15-20 minutes for the rice to drink up all of the broth that’s being added and to cook through. When the rice is done, Oliver stirs in some butter and Parmesan and seasons the rice to taste.
But this risotto, while tasty on its own, really comes to life with the addition of the roasted tomatoes. The roasted tomatoes have a concentrated sweet-tart flavor, with tomato juices and garlicky olive oil in the bottom of the baking dish for you to drizzle over each finished plate. And, every time you slice into your tomato while eating, it will release more of its flavorful juices into the risotto, so each bite tastes like summer.
If you’re looking for a simple, easy meal that can help you make the most of seasonal summer produce while it’s here, then look no further than Jamie Oliver’s roasted tomato risotto recipe.
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