It is a timeless film from 1949 which photographs the little Italy that emerged from the war and which in summer indulged in the first pleasures of a collective escape to the sea: Domenica d'August, the first film shot on the beach directed by Luciano Emmer. The Passaguai family stars, with Aldo Fabrizi. Office managers, employees, secretaries and ushers, all the same in costume lapping stretches of beach for a day out of the ordinary. Most of the meals are organized with large trays brought from home, stuffed peppers, tomatoes with rice, lasagna and parmesan.
In Rome the absolute protagonists are tomatoes with baked rice. A popular dish, made up of inexpensive ingredients and therefore accessible to all, whose origins can be traced back to Jewish-Roman cuisine which was influenced by Spanish and Arab influences, introduced into Italy by the Sephardim, who arrived on our shores at the end of the fifteenth century, after being expelled from Spain for their refusal to convert to Christianity.
Even today, Jewish tradition wants them to be protagonists of Pesach, the Jewish Easter, which celebrates the escape from Egypt, and imposes a ban on eating leavened foods, allowing only the consumption of rice and unleavened bread.
Takeaway dish par excellence, a classic for a picnic out of town and even for a chic picnic on the grass, perhaps before a barbecue as well as for Sundays at the seaside, tomato with rice reigns supreme on the counters of takeaways, and on the menus of popular national restaurants, but manages to intrigue even chefs de rang such as Domenico Boschi of the exclusive Don Pasquale-Maalot restaurant in Rome, a stone's throw from the Trevi Fountain.
It is an unconventional tomato with rice, like the atmosphere experienced in Don Pasquale, in the name of lightness, without ever forgetting taste and deliciousness.
Roman of origins, Neapolitan mother and father from Amatrice, Domenico Boschi, after a long and experience in some of the places in the centre, including the Dulcamara, a must of the Capitoline gastronomic nightlife, arrives, since the opening at the beginning of 2022, as executive chef at Maalot Roma, 5 stars of the Shedir Collection, Small Luxury Hotels of the World, with the Don Pasquale Restaurant & Bar inside where he creates direct and legible but at the same time refined and creative dishes, with an unconventional interpretative line that satisfies the most demanding palates
The recipe for tomato with rice born round but served square
Ingredients for people 4
For the crispy rice:
150 gr rice carnaroli
2 spoons of extra virgin olive oil
50 g of butter
2 shallots
50 gr grated Parmesan cheese
Vegetable broth
Dried oregano 1 teaspoon / salt/ pepper
For the tomato puree:
Bunch tomatoes 400 gr
For the dark potatoes:
New potatoes 600 gr
1 clove garlic
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Rosemary 1 sprig
Salt/pepper
For the confit tomatoes
Yellow date tomatoes 150 gr
Date tomatoes 150 gr
Brown sugar 1 tbsp
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt/pepper
Red basil and green basil for garnish
Method
Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the well chopped shallots. Add the rice, toast it for 3 minutes in the oil over medium heat, stirring often and cook with the vegetable broth for about 11 minutes. Away from the heat, mix the rice with the butter and parmesan. Add the oregano and season with salt and pepper.
At this point, pour the rice into a small 25x25cm aluminum pan lined with baking paper. Let it rest for 20 minutes and then place it in the fridge covered with cling film for at least 1 hour.
For the potato fondant
Rinse the new potatoes under cold water, season with salt, pepper, rosemary and lightly crushed poached garlic and cook them in a preheated oven at 170° for about 1 hour until they are very soft. Now pass them through a potato masher and spread them in a second 25x25cm aluminum pan always lined with baking paper. Once cold, let them rest in the fridge for at least 15 minutes covered with cling film.
Tomato sauce
Pass the vine tomatoes cut in half through the extractor. Collect the juice and place it on the heat in a saucepan. It is ready when only about 1/3 of the total is left. Set it aside.
Confit tomatoes
Divide the yellow and red datterini tomatoes in half. Season them with the brown sugar, 2 pinches of salt, a pinch of pepper and the oil. Put them in the oven at 150° for about 1 hour until they are well wilted
Plate assembly
Collect the rice and potatoes. Preheat the oven to 250° with the grill. Place the rice, taking care that it does not break, on a baking tray. Let it toast and char well on both sides. Now glaze the rice with the tomato puree and place the potato fondant on top. Put everything back in the oven for 2 minutes. Using a kitchen spatula, place the rice and potatoes on a serving plate and garnish with the confit tomatoes and basil.
I recommend pairing it with a mineral and aromatic white wine such as a Riesling served cold.
Don Pasquale – Restaurant & Bar – Maalot Rome
Via delle Muratte 78 – tel. 06/878087
www.hotelmaalot.com-IG hotelmaalot
