Slow Oven-Roasted Tomatoes

I know that tomatoes are no good in New York at this time of year.  I know this.  But I sometimes order my groceries from a delivery service that gives “Good right now!” recommendations on their website.  They said that their beefsteak tomatoes were “good right now!” and I foolishly believed them.  I also saw a carton of heirloom baby tomatoes at a fancy grocery in a fancy neighborhood and thought to myself , “If the fancy people are buying these how bad can they be?  Maybe all of the good tomatoes all go to the Upper West Side in February?”  Well, that is not how it works.  Tomatoes are not good in New York right now.  No matter what your grocery delivery service claims and even if Upper West Siders are spending six dollars for a little carton of cherry tomatoes.  I know that now.  The problem is that I cannot stand to waste food, even if it is mediocre food that I should not have bought in the first place.  Luckily, there is something that you can do to make even lousy tomatoes taste good.  You can slow roast them in low heat oven with olive oil, salt and garlic (rosemary is good in the mix too).  Think of it as providing your tomatoes with the warmth that the winter has denied them.

  • Tomatoes (chopped if large, halved if small)
  • Good Olive oil
  • Salt
  • Rosemary (if you like)
  • minced garlic
  1. Turn your oven to 250 degrees.
  2. Combine all of the ingredients except the garlic on a roasting tray (I use a cookie sheet)
  3. Let your tomatoes roast for at least an hour, maybe two.  You can give them a stir every half hour or so.
  4. When the liquid from the tomatoes has released and is starting to thicken add the garlic and roast for about another half hour.  Don’t let the garlic burn!
  5. When it starts to smell really good and has a caramelized jam like consistency it is done!

This stuff can be put into scrambled eggs, used to top a pizza or tossed with pasta.  It makes a truly excellent quiche filling when paired with goat cheese.  For quiche making directions go to Gluten Free Quiche or Yummy Quiche with a Baked Potato Crust.  You can also make a superior tomato pie using oven roasted tomatoes.

11 Comments Add yours

  1. Rick Ford says:

    Great idea. I can’t resist those tomatoes either even though I know they are hard and don’t taste much like tomotoes. I just grind them up raw with onion, chilis and cilantro to make fresh salsa. Quick and easy and even in January, pretty tasty with a bit of salt and more healthy and better than that bottled stuff.

  2. Rebecca says:

    Erin!
    Like you, I love to cook! So much that While i was in college i thought about dropping out to go to pastry school! Recently, I discovered that I have a gluten allergy, and went into a bit of mourning for all of the lovely things I could no longer make. Then along comes my friend Sxip, who says, “my friend Erin is one of the best cooks I know, and she has Celiac’s AND a food blog!”
    I am so glad that I checked it out!!!!
    You’re like my gluten-free foodie soulmate! Overkill? Maybe. But I am REALLY excited to start on some of the dishes. Starting with the tomatoes (had a bland box in the fridge!).
    Thanks!

    1. Nice to meet you Rebecca! I am glad that Sxip sent you this way!

  3. I love your intro to this one!
    -S

  4. sangangela says:

    made this and loved it! thank you! husband LOVED it too! It made our home smell awesome! Don’t you wish you got tomatoes all year like we do in India?!

    1. Don’t rub it in Sang! I miss tomatoes so much right now. Come to think of it, I miss India too! I’m glad that you guys liked the recipe!

      xo
      Erin

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s