Last week I talked about how my zucchini plants are doing surprisingly well. Well equally surprising is the fact that my tomato plants are not doing to well. I usually can count on trusty old tomatoes, but this year for some reason they’re looking really sad. It’s still early, so hopefully they’ll perk up! In any event, I plan to post lots of tomato recipes this summer, whether or not the tomatoes come from my own garden. For this tomato risotto recipe I used some nice looking store-bought on-the-vine tomatoes, but I also tested it out with canned ones, just in case you want to make this outside tomato season or just want an easier version of the recipe.
The fresh tomato version of the recipe calls for roasting the tomatoes. It’s a bit more work, but the extra flavor you get makes it so worthwhile! Halve your tomatoes, rub them with some olive oil, and pop them in the oven. They’re done when the skins become wrinkly and maybe form some blisters. Let them cool, remove the skin and seeds, and chop them up.
While the tomatoes roast you’ll caramelize the onions. This can take a while, but it’s mostly hands-off cooking. Once the onions are soft and brown, add the tomatoes, some wine and thyme. Simmer for a few, and then add the rice. The trick with risotto is to just add a little bit of broth at a time and stir frequently. This is what enables the rice to get nice and creamy.
For extra creaminess I added some coconut milk when the rice was almost done cooking.
Tips for Making Delicious Tomato Risotto
Save time the day of serving by caramelizing the onions and roasting the tomatoes up to two days in advance. Or just use canned tomatoes! If you’re using fresh tomatoes for this, make sure they’re nice and ripe and really good quality. If you make this during the winter or live somewhere where good tomatoes are tough to find you might just want to go with canned. This recipe takes some time, but it’s really not a lot of work, I promise! It’s a great one to make over the weekend while you’re working on another project in the kitchen. After I made this I thought it might have been nice to double the caramelized onions and use the extra for topping. Will somebody try that and let me know how it goes? :)
Like this recipe? If so, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter. And please stop back and leave me a review and rating below if you make it!
