Eat Well: Tomatoes a la roast

The following post was written by my mom, WWW. Thanks mom!
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It’s August and that means tomato explosion time. Even though my beautiful plants have been attacked by nematodes (UGH!! THESE ARE NASTY LITTLE BEASTS!), I still have a huge harvest. Luckily the kids were here for a week to help eat these babies. Revi and Bo love tomatoes, as does Rebecca, but even with the extra mouths in the house, we still couldn’t make a dent in the seemingly endless supply.
STILL LIFE WITH TOMATOES
By now you know how much I love to roast vegetables, so I decided to try my hand at roasting tomatoes.

Most roasted tomato recipes call for seeded Roma tomatoes. Barefoot Contessa has a wonderful recipe but I didn’t grow Romas and I don’t like seeding tomatoes—it seems like such a waste—so I went with David Lebovitz’s easy tomato roasting method which is right up my alley. (However, if you like a drier roasted tomato, go ahead and seed them.) I can’t even begin to describe how delicious these are. Roasting vegetables, as I have often said, intensifies flavor so roasted tomatoes are a taste bud sensation. Even a homely store bought tomato transforms into a thing of beauty by roasting it. We loved these so much that I made four batches in three days. We topped grits and eggs with them and layered them on top of toast. (Spread the toast with hummus or soft cheese first for a wonderful lunch or snack.) They are amazing as a pizza topping, added to quiche or frittatas, cooked in soups, mixed with quinoa or stuffed into a baked potato. Roasted tomatoes have a similar flavor to sun dried tomatoes and can replace them in recipes.

Roast the tomatoes with any fresh herb—rosemary, thyme, marjoram, oregano, or basil work well. I used rosemary since I have a lot of it in my garden. It holds up well after roasting and infuses the tomatoes with its flavor.
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You can freeze the tomatoes for up to 6 months so roasting them is a great way to preserve your summer harvest. If you don’t grow your own tomatoes, take advantage of the cheap summer prices at the market and you will be enjoying great tomatoes all winter long.

Roasted Tomatoes 
(inspired by David Lebovitz)

3 Tbsp good quality olive oil
4 cloves garlic, sliced
8 sprigs rosemary (or other fresh herbs such as thyme, marjoram, oregano, or basil salt and pepper to taste
2 lbs small or medium sized tomatoes (about)

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. Pour oil in a large roasting pan. (Don’t use aluminum as it reacts with the tomatoes.)
3. Add sliced garlic, salt and pepper, and rosemary or other herbs.
4.  Remove stems from tomatoes and cut in half horizontally.
5. Coat the tomatoes in the oil, and place cut side down in pan. (Don’t crowd the tomatoes. Use two pans if needed.)
6.  Roast at 325 for two hours or until the tomatoes are completely soft and wrinkly. Store in refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 6 months!

Here are a few of my favorite ways to eat them:
GRITS AND TOMATOES with grits
IMG_7796 with hummus on toast
WITH POACHED EGGS with poached egg
FRIED EGGS AND ROASTED TOMATOES with fried egg
photo-9 with goat cheese 

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For more tomato recipes go here and here and here and here!  Enjoy!


Love, 

WWW

20 comments:

Red Stethoscope | 10:36 AM

YUM! Those look amazing!

Mommy Anderson | 10:39 AM

Looks delicious! Shared it with my farmer cousin who is currently covered up in tomatoes. YUM!

Janel | 10:42 AM

I discovered roasted tomatoes last summer, and absolutely love them! I'm a pretty picky vegetable eater, so I was delighted to find a tasty, relatively healthy way to enjoy a new vegetable. I like to slice tomatos, put them on buttered whole wheat bread with a little sea salt and mozzarella on top, and roast them in the oven. Delicious!

I really like these Eat Well posts. As I said, I am a picky eater when it comes to produce of any kind, and I am really trying to expand my veggie horizons. These posts really encourage me and give me good ideas as to how to incorporate them into my meals, and how to cook them so they will actually taste good. Hooray for WWW!

S | 12:22 PM

I've been saying for days how I have so many tomatoes that I don't know what to do with them. My daughter has been eating them as snacks (thank goodness she loves them!...of course, they were planted for her anyway).

Do you think this will work with smaller tomatoes? I've been going through a cherry & plum tomato burst for the last few weeks, but my big boys are still growing.

Regardless, this looks amazingly delicious!

michis mind | 12:23 PM

Total. Tomato. Envy.

Arnebya | 12:59 PM

I love a good tomato. I've only had them roasted on salmon, so I'm definitely interested to see how they are on/with grits. We usually just slice them and mix with a light vinaigrette or, my favorite, with Miracle whip.

@Janel -- I always thought tomato was fruit. I asked a coworker and she said vegetable. We asked another; she said fruit. Huh. We should consult the almighty Google, for it never lies (unless, of course, you're googling a random pain which it usually wants to tell you is TB).

Amber | 1:52 PM

So excited to try this!!

Wendy Woolf | 2:15 PM

S....roasted cherry tomatoes are delicious!! Roast them at 250 for an hour.

Anonymous | 2:37 PM

Hi! First time commenter here! We had 30 pounds of tomatoes from our fared this year and we made homemade ketchup! It was an awesome way to condense such a huge haul and a fun projec with my daughter. We just used spices and seasonings with honey And apple cider vinegar and it made enough to fill a large glass jar and freeze to flat gallon ziploc bags. There are some great recipes online. Plus no junk or crap in it like store-bought. Tastes rich and delicious but was an all day affair. Took 12 hours to slow cook tomatoes down to paste but worth it!

Anonymous | 6:38 PM

You could open a tomato stand an I would be first in line! Luscious!

Ellen | 8:12 PM

YUM! I am also a HUGE roast tomato fan (although I never thought of adding in herbs....a great idea!). I agree that taking out the seeds seems like an incredible waste of time and I always think that they add to the flavor. They taste great on pasta but the hummus, eggs, and grits idea sounds good, too.

Catherine | 6:58 AM

Gorgeous! Tomato season is my favourite (and I used to despise them as a child, which makes me laugh now). I love slow roasting cherry or baby plum tomatoes - three hours at 100c/225F with just a smidge of oil. They're like little sweets when they're done - so addictive!

MommyLisa | 11:21 AM

I just roasted some myself! They were cherry and I plan to toss them with pasta.

Anonymous | 11:54 AM

We go one step further. Roast with garlic until a little dryer than you have in your pictures. Blend until smooth and freeze. We call it roasted tom. sauce, and it is wonderful in the winter on pasta, salmon, eggs, or grits.

Anonymous | 12:53 PM

Those tomatoes look super fab, before and after roasting. Great reminder to prepare for winter!

Kim | 10:50 PM

These look super awesome, and I'm totally thinking about doing this with our cherry tomatoes once they start turning red (I'm still in disbelief that we'll have bucketloads, though friends say our 4 plants will produce large quantities).

If you freeze them, what's the best way to defrost/heat them up to serve on toast or with eggs? I'd guess you want them to be warm and soft, but coming from the freezer I'd guess you want to let them thaw (in the fridge?) before heating them up (in the oven? microwave? stovetop?)...tips welcome!

Wendy Woolf | 11:00 PM

Kim...you can microwave them or heat them on the stove. Since they are already cooked, it won't matter if you heat them. Or, defrost at room temp or in the refrigerator.

Kim | 11:16 PM

Thanks for the fast reply, Wendy! I was worried about overcooking if I reheated the "wrong" way - good to know that it's not too tricky! :)

Unknown | 5:12 PM

I just had to search around for this I remembered seeing it the other day. Our CSA has given us 2lbs of tomatoes a week for the past month I vowed to freeze this batch. Looking forward to doing this tomorrow!

Niamh J. O'Leary | 4:46 PM

Rookie question--What's the best method of freezing the roasted tomatoes? ziplocks? gladware? should I wrap them tightly in saran or aluminum foil? Thanks!