My garden is winding down and there’s a chill in the evening air and my last thoughts of summer are fading and my attention is turning toward fall and a new kind of harvest. At the end of the summer season, the perennial question presents itself, “what to do with all these leftover tomatoes?” Since I started my first vegetable garden this year, I too actually had more tomatoes than the family could eat.
In researching how to preserve tomatoes I stumbled onto several blogs advocating the roasting of tomatoes rather than canning and since this 1) sounded delicious and 2) seemed relatively easy, I thought I’d give it a whirl. And just to make sure I had an ample supply, I purchased 5 lbs of tomato seconds at the last farmer’s market. A second is simply a fruit or vegetable that has imperfections or perhaps is slightly overripe. Therefore, even if you don’t grow your own, you can still enjoy this exercise. Seconds are less expensive and taste just as good.
With my supply of tomatoes washed and ready to go I had to decide on a roast method. Some roasting recipes called for high heat and a short (1.5 hours) roasting time, while others recommended a long slow roast (like 12 hours) at a low temperature around 250 degrees. Since my own oven is unpredictable and tends to run hot, I decided to shoot for a slower roast knowing I wouldn’t hit the predicted time frame. In fact at 250 degrees, I finished up in 7 hours.
First I cut all the tomatoes (mostly Roma’s and a few heirlooms) in half and tried to make sure they were all approximately the same size so they would roast consistently. I threw in some whole grape tomatoes after the fact and was glad I did. (Once roasted their flavor explodes in your mouth.) I placed the tomatoes in a large bowl and began tossing in the following: cloves of garlic, torn up basil, olive oil (drizzled), salt and pepper. I mixed it all together (with my hands, clean of course) and poured everything out onto a couple of shallow pans, like cookie sheets. I made sure that the tomatoes were facing cut side up so I could better gauge their progress.
Roasted tomatoes, 6 hours
I then placed the pans of tomatoes in the oven and peaked in occasionally which I had to do because the smell of the roasting tomatoes and garlic was too compelling to ignore. The mellow aroma of the slow roasted garlic mixed with the concentrated tomato made my mouth water. Once they were done (see picture) they still retained some moisture, just more concentrated. I turned off the oven and let them cool down inside (but snitched repeatedly and popped morsels in my mouth just like snack food.)
Once roasted, the tomatoes were about half their original size. I put them in a bowl and poured more olive oil over them, covered them and stored them in the refrigerator. I understand I could have put them in a freezer, but frankly they didn’t last long enough.
The applications for using them in this form are numerous: on pasta, bruschetta, on sandwiches, pizzas — anywhere you might have used fresh tomato. Buzz them up in a food processor with your cream cheese, well you get the picture. It becomes an incredibly versatile condiment.
The Family’s Favorite
toasted slices of french baguette (3/8″)
roasted tomatoes
chunks of burrata (a recent discovery of mine, a kind of mozzarella that is filled with cream in the middle)
a little drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper
Just layer, first the roasted tomatoes, and then the burrata. Finish off the toasts with the olive oil, salt & pepper. Serve.
there are no words for this one…
