Rice and Tomatoes.

Rice and tomatoes has been on my table for as long as I can remember.  That is rice with tomatoes stewed in with some seasoning for the main course, sometimes the only course.  Add in some sweet tea and you have what I call the Dixon Family Meal, as in the long time Dixon Family Meal that predates my dining on this simple dish.  I got to thinking about this dish after watching A Chef's Life on TV this season and how the chef there had rice and chicken as their family time honored meal. 

I expect if rice and tomatoes was not the first meal I had when I came off of baby food it certainly was pretty close.   Our family has been serving this meal likely since our earliest moved to North Carolina in the 1700's.  Simply put rice was grown in the coastal area here was to be found in abundance, which made it cheap.  Tomatoes of course are a staple of southern gardens since almost forever and a farming family could grow all they wanted or needed.  So combining this pair was a natural food that could fill hungry children with good nutrients without costing a fortune.  My grandparents decided to have 10 children, so of course this meal was a staple on the meal table. 

The natural progression is that the 10 children took the meal as a comfort food when they left home and started having families.  My part of the extended Dixon family certainly did and there was a point where we dined on the food almost every Saturday night.  My mother put up tomatoes in the summer in jars and we had fresh tomatoes to combine with rice all year long.   Frankly there was a time when I tired of the food, but shortly after leaving home it was not long before I welcomed rice and tomatoes stewed up by my mother when I would return home.   

Now I am sure rice and tomatoes has it's many cooked variations over the 10 children, but I have my favorite.  Some good rice, some homegrown tomatoes if possible, some bacon seasoning, salt and a good helping of pepper.  Add in a pinch of sugar as well as most southern cooks do to most all vegetable meals.  Honesty here, no matter how many times my father tried or I tried our rice and tomatoes would not and did not ever taste like my mother's. I expect most of you have that issue with the dish your mother made best. 

So I give praise to the simple comfort food or rice and tomatoes and suggest if you have not tried this meal then give it a try on a cold winter night soon.