Rachel Roddy's recipe for tomatoes stuffed with rice, tuna and anchovies

Six days a week, around 10:30 a.m., the smell of roast chicken rises through our first-floor bedroom window. A message from the back kitchen window of the tavolacalda (canteen) on the ground floor. When we first moved in, I tried to remember to close the window and, if I forgot, to ward off the intruder with a towel. Not because I don't like the smell of roast chicken, but because it just didn't seem appropriate for the bedroom. Floating was useless, of course, even closing the window was no guarantee. In fact, any resistance seemed to make the smell even stronger. So we stopped resisting, and the smell, as if smelling of our acceptance, softened as it drifted across the room.

Now four years older later, the smell is just as much a part of the bedroom as the sheets and the coconut hair cream. I learn from food scientist Harold McGee that chicken fat, coconut, as well as pineapple, peaches and dairy products, are full of friendly molecules called lactones, which get their name from the Latin word for milk, and are instantly recognizable for a sweet-creamy quality accentuated by frying.

By noon, the smell is gone. If I stick my head far enough out the kitchen window, I might be able to catch it again as the now fully roasted chickens will have been transported from the scullery and lined up on the canteen's glass counter. Also, there's the smell of roast potatoes and veal in sauce, lasagne, cannelloni, parmigiana, potato gratin and, at this time of year, rice salad , roasted red peppers and rice-stuffed tomatoes. The lunch pull is great.

Classic Roman Style Rice Stuffed Tomatoes are typically made with uncooked rice, tomato pulp, olive oil, olive, garlic and basil, so they require about 50 minutes of cooking for the rice to cook well. For this alternative version, the rice is pre-boiled for up to a few minutes before being mixed with the other stuffing ingredients, reducing cooking time. It is important that the tomatoes are ripe, but not mushy, and hollowed out carefully.

During the last minutes of cooking, the rice should puff up and lift the lids, giving them look like casual hats. Once out of the oven, let the tomatoes rest for about 15 minutes, and up to a few hours, so the flavors can settle, then serve with salad, pickled or boiled vegetables, yogurt and cucumber if you want. Of course, if now you also fancy a roast chicken, they also go well with that.

Tomatoes stuffed with rice, tuna, capers and anchovies

Preparation 30 minCooking 40 minServes 4

8 medium ripe tomatoes Salt and black pepper 200g rice 150g tuna, packed in olive oil 1 tbsp capers 4 or 5 fillets of chopped anchovies (or 1 heaped tablespoon of parmesan cheese) 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh herbs (parsley, basil, oregano) 1 teaspoon of dried oregano 2 tablespoons of olive oil, plus a little for the top and dish use a teaspoon to scoop out the pulp and seeds, catching them in a bowl. Work carefully to remove as much as possible while keeping the tomato intact. Sprinkle the hollows of the tomatoes with salt and put them cut side down on a kitchen towel for 20 minutes.

Strain the tomato pulp and seeds through a sieve or in the vegetable mill. Boil the rice in salted water for two minutes less than the recommended time, drain and mix with the tomato juices, tuna, capers, anchovies or parmesan cheese, herbs, two tablespoons of olive oil and lots of black pepper.

Put the rice mixture into the sunken tomatoes, filling them to the top. Place in an oiled baking dish, and put the lids on. Bake at 200C (180C fan)/390F/Gas 6 for 15 minutes, during which time the rice will finish cooking and puff up by lifting the lids a little. Let stand for at least 20 minutes - and up to a few hours - before serving.