Tomato + Cheddar Rice

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to cook the same things often , so I’m always looking for new recipes to try. As I’ve said before, I’ve had some great luck with the NYT Cooking app and Instagram account. They offer a really wide variety of cuisines and some of my fave past and current BA folks contribute recipes here.

Anyways, tomatoes are obviously peaking right now so I wanted to cook with them, and this makes a great weeknight meal. The flavor is exciting for what seems like a pretty straightforward dish - I love how the rice absorbs the slightly spicy tomato sauce. Also, this would be great for brunch, especially if you have leftover cooked rice.

Priya Krishna’s Tomato Rice with Crispy Cheddar via NYT Cooking.

Bentley’s Way

• I’ll be honest, I failed on the crispy cheese part - mine was more bubbly-gooey. But this is only because I can’t use my broiler, so the best I can do is bake things at a really high heat while our apartment overheats. Still tasty, but I bet it’s magic if it actually crisps.

• Rather than transferring everything to a new baking dish, I left it in my Dutch oven and baked it uncovered. Maybe that would have helped get things crispy? Who knows. This was easier.

• I like that this recipe allows you to use canned tomatoes, but definitely go for fresh if you find some good ones. I also used yellow cheddar instead of white because we had this leftover from the hot dogs.

• Naturally, I halved this recipe by using 5 tomatoes and cooking 1/2 cup dried rice. That said, I used a full onion and Serrano pepper, and added two cloves of crushed garlic.

• I decided to top each of our bowls with a poached egg because I wanted to round the dish out as more of a meal, less of a side dish. Alton Brown’s poaching method works every time and is not intimidating at all. To sum it up, drop eggs in 190 degree water, cook for 4.5 minutes without touching.