This is how good they looked before we roasted them. Toss a splash of Vinegar or a squeeze of Lemon and some shaved parmesan in there and you’ve got the best tomato salad in the world. Oh, but wait…
This is what they look like after hours of slow, gentle roasting…insert heavy-breathing here.
Since our CSA tomato-cup-runneth-over we’ve been getting tons of beautiful, fresh/local/organic/heirloom tomato varieties and have been feeling the pressure to find new things to do with them other than, well…you know, eat them.Last year we roasted a batch and, frankly, they were ugly. We kind of let them go too long and wound up with something less ‘roasted-tomato-ey’ and more like ‘tomato-pastey’, which was great on pasta but not really what we were going for.
This year, by golly, we did it right. We washed, quartered, and seeded the tomatoes, gathered fresh herbs from the garden, roasted all those lovelies under low, slow heat and stopped the roasting when they still looked like tomatoes. We showed absolutely no restraint whatsoever in our selection of herbs and spices and, as such, we may have gone a little overboard on the seasoning side of things. They did wind up with kind of a ‘pizza-saucy’ flavor, but it’s the best darn pizza sauce ever! Actually, that flavor gave us what we think is a rather inspired idea…and a continuation of our delicious ’stuff-wrapped-in-prosciutto’ rut. More on that in a later post.
Here’s the skinny on the Roasted Tomatoes with Fresh Garden Herbs:
- however many pounds of fresh, ripe, tomatoes you can gather together (garden-fresh heirloom varieties taste the best but, hey…we don’t judge) washed, quartered (if they’re largish) or halved (if they’re smallish) and seeded (we think it makes them less bitter, do it under running water and it doesn’t take too long). We had about 3 pounds of tomatoes.
- Fresh herbs from the garden (or supermarket, or farmers market, or neighbor’s yard), we used Rosemary (1 Tbsp, chopped), Basil (half a cup of loose leaves, about 3 stems, torn), and Oregano (1 Tbsp, chopped)
- Extra virgin Olive Oil, just to coat everything
- 6 or 8 Garlic Cloves, crushed
- 1 Tbsp Whole Fennel Seed, crushed or coarsely chopped
- 1 tsp Crushed red pepper (or more if you want some kick)
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Toss the whole shebang in a bowl until the Tomatoes are evenly coated. Dump it all on a sheet pan and roast it at 225° to 250°F for about 5 hours (or more, or less…take a peek at them every so often).
Wondering what to do with them then? Well, how about…
- Pitching them into a summer salad of fresh greens and a simple vinaigrette (oil and vinegar is fine, the Tomatoes have tons of flavor)
- Tossing them with pasta, hot or cold
- Layering them with Pesto, Mozzarella, and Deli meats on a sandwich
- Shmooshing them on slices of toasted Baguette and topping them with a little fresh Basil and grated Parmesan
Or, you could pour a glass of wine and eat them right off the pan…like we did…mmmmmmmmmm….
Salute!
