Ricotta and Orzo Stuffed Tomatoes
Aug 27, 2013, Updated Jul 20, 2021
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Garden fresh tomatoes stuffed with a mixture of orzo and ricotta cheese.
Wanna know what I’m doing? I’m searching travel sites. No, I’m not going anywhere, but I feel like if I just go and search for some vacation packages, that I’m somehow closer to planning a trip to paradise. Do you do that, too!? It’s a fun game to play with your brain… let it believe that you’re going to take a rest.
Soooo, Punta Cana looks good. So does Madrid. And Aruba…
In all honesty, Wisconsin Dells will do me just fine at this point! We just better get to it before the snow gets to us. You know that’s going to happen, right? I mean, we’ve had a weird summer – 60 degrees in July, 102 degrees in August. Nuts! The pattern will surely continue and we will have snow on the ground by October. Mark my words. Or not. 🙂
Oh. My bad. I’m supposed to talk about these Ricotta and Orzo Stuffed Tomatoes.
Well. In case you didn’t notice, my stuffing-food adventures continue… We’ve got stuffed peppers, stuffed burgers, stuffed cannelloni, etc…
And now, again, I stuffed some tomatoes! What else can I do with all of this love that my garden is giving us?
See?!?
I made some spaghetti sauce, a bunch of salads, salsas… I also ate them plain with a sprinkle of sea salt. And I made those Quinoa and Spinach Stuffed Tomatoes for the umpteenth time this summer.
Now that I wrote it all down, I come to think of it, we eat pretty damn good around this household! Lucky them to have me!
Anywho. Back in the day, when I lived in Chicago, I used to frequent this authentic Italian restaurant and I always ordered the same appetizer, Ricotta Orzo Salata. It was out of this world delicious! I don’t know what was all in it, but it stuck with me. I often try to remake it, but it never comes out quite like it. I’m thinking the chef, a.k.a. Nonna, had a secret ingredient that she didn’t want to share.
This is my version of that salad, and it’s not that it isn’t just as delicious, because it is, but it’s still not quite like the one. Normally, I don’t stuff this salad into anything but my mouth, however, this time, because of the onehundredthousandbillion tomatoes that we have, I stuffed it in there and it turned out really, really good. I mean great. I mean WOW! Finger lickin’, lip smackin’, mouth droolin’, WOW!
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Ricotta and Orzo Stuffed Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 8 to 10 tomatoes
- boiling water
- 1 cup uncooked orzo
- 1-1/2 cups Ricotta
- 1 green bell pepper, , finely diced
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, , chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, , minced
- salt and fresh ground pepper, , to taste
- 1 lemon, , zested and juiced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Line a large plate or a baking sheet with foil.
- Slice off the stem end of the tomatoes and hollow out the inside.
- Slice just a small section off the bottom of the tomatoes so that they will sit flat on a plate.
- Sprinkle salt in the hollow portion of each tomato and place hollow-side down; set aside.
- Stir 1 cup uncooked orzo into boiling water.
- Cook for 5 minutes.
- Drain and wash with cold water.
- Let completely cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine ricotta, diced pepper, oregano, parsley, garlic, zest, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and olive oil; mix it all together.
- Gently fold in the orzo.
- Taste for salt and pepper, and adjust.
- Using a large spoon, fill the tomatoes with the orzo mixture and set them on a serving plate.
- Refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Garnish with parsley flakes and dried oregano.
- Serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
Would these hold up if made the night before and served as lunch the next day?
Hi there. Wondering if these could be done warm, perhaps putting them in the oven after they are stuffed? Let me know your thoughts!
Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Katerina!
I’d love to feature your stuffed tomato recipe in a stuffed veggie roundup I’m doing for Parade Magazine – if you’re cool with that would I be able to use one of your gorgeous photos with a link back to your original post (https://diethood.com/ricotta-orzo-stuffed-tomatoes/)
Thanks dear!
Felicia
Thanks, Felicia!! I’d love that!
Hey these look unreal!
If I can’t find orzo, what is a good alternative? I’ve never seen or heard of it in Ireland! (but it’s some sort of rice right!?)
Also would you swap the ricotta for cottage cheese?
Thanks,
Clare
Hi Clare!
Orzo is considered pasta, but it looks like very large rice. 🙂 If you can’t find it on the pasta shelves, then go ahead and use 2 cups cooked rice. You can use cottage cheese, but for this dish I think it’s better with ricotta. Then again, that’s just a personal preference. 🙂
Kate,
I too have tomatoes out the . . . trug (yeah, that’s it) from the garden. But I’m growing a gigantic variety (no kidding, huge).
I think that means more room to stuff with orzo, right?
Thanks!
Ohmahgosh! I am totally smitten with orzo and must use your filling to stuff tomatoes…as they look divine! I love trying to recreate favorite recipes from restaurants. Sometimes you come close, while other times you surpass them and “wow” yourself. I think you did. So glad you attempted this. Thanks for sharing, Kate!