chompsky

If there is one thing I drool over when we hit up our local farmers’ markets, it’s tomatoes. The tomato really represents the apex of the heirloom vegetable trend, which is a trend I hope never fades. The pink accordions, green zebras, Dr. Wyche’s yellow…the variety is astounding, and I want to try every single type. Which is kind of funny, seeing as I’m not really a huge tomato fan. Give me a good caprese and I’m happy as a clam, it’s true, but honestly, I’m in it for the cheese. I don’t eat sandwiches that often, and I usually avoid salads because, frankly, they bore me (I know! I’m sorry! I’m working on it!) But when I saw these “Jaune Flamme” orange cherry tomatoes glistening like little jewels in a basket on Wednesday, I had to buy them. I knew I’d figure out what to do with them later.

At home, I recalled reading about Molly Wizenberg’s roasted tomatoes in her book, A Homemade Life. I was instantly intrigued–the flavor of sun-dried tomatoes without the weird, fruit-leathery consistency. Of course, her recipe says to roast them for six hours, and it was 9:30pm, and when I get it in my head that I’m going to do something I like to do it now, so I went with Smitten Kitchen’s version instead, which only requires three hours of oven time. I set my alarm, put on What About Bob? (don’t ask–Nick actually requested this one, and you know what? Not as bad as I remembered. Actually, What About Bob? was a running joke in my Mom’s house growing up. It was requested so often by my mother, that whenever we couldn’t think of a good tape to put on, one of us would invariably suggest in the snarkiest was possible, “What about Bob?”) and pulled them out at one in the morning. And ate a few. Because they were really, really good.

slow roasted tomatoes
from Smitten Kitchen

These would be good in so many places–think of them as better versions of sun-dried tomatoes. Tossed simply with some pasta, basil, and oil; on an antipasto platter; mixed  in with soft goat cheese for a fancy spread; on a sandwich with some more goat cheese; on a juicy barbequed burger; or what we did with it, which I’ll tell you about tomorrow.

Cherry, grape or small Roma tomatoes
Whole gloves of garlic, unpeeled
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Herbs such as thyme or rosemary (optional)

Preheat oven to 225°F. Halve each cherry or grape tomato crosswise, or Roma tomato lengthwise and arrange on a parchment-lined baking sheet along with the cloves of garlic. (I didn’t have parchment, so I just greased the pan with a little olive oil.) Drizzle with olive oil, just enough to make the tomatoes glisten. Sprinkle herbs on, if you are using them, and salt and pepper, though go easily on these because the finished product will be so flavorful you’ll need very little to help it along.

Bake the tomatoes in the oven for about three hours. You want the tomatoes to be shriveled and dry, but with a little juice left inside–this could take more or less time depending on the size of your tomatoes. (I probably could have left mine in a little longer, but I was tired, and What About Bob? had already ended.)

Either use them right away or let them cool, cover them with some extra olive oil and keep them in the fridge.