You are going to adore these tomatoes! They’re so easy, and ridiculously delicious. I use roasted tomatoes in all sorts of ways, and I’m going to tell you all about it.
The other day my parents popped by. Dad handed me a bag. Inside were several tomatoes from their garden: a couple of Cherokee Purples and some red ones. I live for days like that.
I first roasted tomatoes probably twenty years ago, and I couldn’t believe how good they were. I’ll never forget the first time I used them. I’d made my favorite roast chicken, and I served it with a few baby potatoes I’d thrown in the pan with the chicken, a bit of commercial pesto, these roasted tomatoes, and a hunk of bakery sourdough with butter. I slathered the tomatoes on the chicken and the buttered bread. I drizzled the pesto on some of that. To this day, this is still one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten–made by me or someone else–including meals at really good restaurants.
Lately my cooking has necessarily been laser-focused on, first, getting my next cookbook out by the fall, and, second, the LCK blog. It’s enough to make me want a PB&J, or a grilled cheese with tomato soup, or my favorite easy dinner: leftovers. I haven’t made anything for dinner just because I was hungry for it in weeks. When those home grown tomatoes appeared, it felt like a gift in more ways than one. As we all know, Thou Shalt Not Waste Homegrown Tomatoes.
For the uninitiated, the term, confit (pronounced CON-fee), generally refers to foods slow cooked in fat–often meats submerged in fat, whether the meat’s own fat or an introduced fat such as lard or olive oil. In the case of fruit confit, the fruit is cooked with sugar or simple syrup but not necessarily submerged. Either way, the result is a food with fabulously concentrated flavor and an excellent jammy texture. Further, the method extends the storage life of whatever you’re cooking as a confit.
For Roasted Tomatoes Confit, we don’t submerge the tomatoes in fat, I drizzle them generously with olive oil, and roast them in a moderate oven instead. This achieves that wonderful spreadable confit texture. When the tomatoes are finished and cooled, you’ll be able to use them immediately. Or you can pack them in a glass jar with a little more olive oil on top, and keep them in the fridge for about 3 weeks.
The instructions are straightforward, and they’re on the recipe card below. But let’s talk about just a few things you can do with your gorgeous Roasted Tomatoes Confit once you get them done–
They’re a fantastic condiment for roast chicken, fried chicken, pork tenderloin, steak
Spread on toasted baguette slices for bruschetta
Spread on a cooked chicken cutlet and top with mozzarella and parmesan and run under the broiler for a quick Chick Parm
Use instead of sliced tomatoes for an epic BLT or tomato grilled cheese
Mix a tablespoon into a cup of leftover rice for a terrific side dish
Use in place of tomato sauce on a flatbread pizza
Add a tablespoon to a basic vinaigrette for the best tomato vinaigrette ever
Toss in the blender with some Italian seasoning and use as an awesome pasta sauce
Spread on some leftover focaccia and make a dandy leftover chicken sandwich
Summer tomatoes for the win!
Roasted Tomatoes Confit
Ingredients
- Fresh garden tomatoes
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°. Cover a sheet pan with parchment paper or foil.
- Wash and core the tomatoes. Cut them in half through the equator. Very large tomatoes may need to be quartered,
- Spread the tomatoes cut side up on the sheet pan. Drizzle liberally with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for about 2½ hours, or until the tomatoes are nicely dehydrated and jammy.
- Use the tomatoes immediately or pack into a clean glass jar and tap the jar on the counter to release any air bubbles. If you still see bubbles, run a chopstick or dinner knife around the inside of the jar until the bubbles are gone. Cover with more olive oil and store in the refrigerator up to three weeks.
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