Slow Roasted Tomatoes of Perfection and Deliciousness

Perhaps your garden is full of cherry tomatoes like mine. Or roma tomatoes. Or whatever kind of tomato. And perhaps you LOVE tomatoes but are running low on tomato-prep ideas. Or perhaps you LOVE tomatoes and therefore want to eat them in every imaginable way. Or perhaps you DESPISE tomatoes, but are willing to try them in a new way you have never experienced before. Whatever your feelings on tomatoes, you simply must try turning your tomatoes into these...


There are, let's see, *counting to self* - about ZERO steps to this process. It is the easiest thing in the world. But it is the one summer food that, year after year, my friends and family come to me begging for more of. Let me tell you about these slow roasted tomatoes after the jump...

How to Make Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

All you need to do is wash your tomatoes...


Remove the stems, cut them in half, and lay 'em on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper and toss them about to coat.


It's not necessary, but I chop some garden thyme and sprinkle on top as well. I also add a few cloves of garlic (still wrapped in their papery coating, which imparts a garlic whiff to them, or chopped and sprinkled on top works too for a more pungent garlic flavor)


Now set your oven to it's lowest setting, somewhere around 225-250. Then let those babies cook, so slowly. We're talking like 5 hours slow. Like, a morning at pre-school plus a trip-to-the-park slow. Even if they weren't delicious I would still do this just for the sweet late-summer scent of fresh tomato goodness that takes over the house. You will know they are done when you like the way they taste. You can let them go until they are all the way dry and call them sun-dried tomatoes (even though they are oven dried), in which case you could store them in a ziploc bag or coat them in olive oil and store in the fridge for a few weeks. Or you could do what i prefer, which is pull them out when they are still slightly moist, but the edges are dried and they have a slightly chewy, sugary, deep, intense, amazing tomato flavor that reminds you that you are an animal come from the earth and that fruit and vegetable and fire are your basest sustenance.


I like to spread them on french bread with goat cheese and a few fresh basil leaves, but you can toss them on pasta with olive oil, or eat them on a bagel with cream cheese, or stuff them into a wheel of brie and bake. You can do anything you want with them, but you will love them. I have never met a person who, after tasting them once, did not drool like pavlov's dogs at the very mention of them - even people who claim to detest tomatoes.

Let me know how it goes! My mouth is watering as I type. Must go into garden now.