Because of my Italian heritage, tomatoes have played a very important role in my dietary preferences. As you may know, if you also love tomatoes, during this time of year (actually during all but the late summer and early fall months) the stores are filled with red orbs that are labeled as tomatoes, but taste like cardboard and have the texture of mushy apples surrounded by a hard gelatenous layer. I have discovered an acceptable substitute in the grape (and sometimes) the cherry tomatoes. These grape tomatoes (the size and shape of grapes, duh) are sweeter and while not excellent, have a touch of the essence of tomato.
I got a Nigella Lawson cookbook for Christmas from my daughter, (Yes she is that lovely and voluptuous--stop drooling guys-- and a wonderful chef as well.) and we decided to check out the tomato recipes and found this recipe below. I have to paraphrase since I left the book at my daughter house.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. (232.2222222 degree Celsius)
Slice tomatoes (as many as you want) (large tomatoes need more chopping)
Set in large baking pan or dish and drizzle olive oil over all
Chop an herb (basil, oregano or the recipe called for thyme)
Sprinkle herb, kosher salt and a tiny bit of sugar over all. (you can also add pepper to taste)
Pop in the oven and turn the oven off
Leave in for about 12 hours.
Enjoy in so many ways--spread on toast, in salad or eat them like popcorn as I do.
The flavor or the tomato is very concentrated yet they are still a little juicy and less chewy unlike the dried tomato. The recipe allows use of regular tomatoes, but I think that cherry or grape are the best even though slicing them in half takes a little time. If you crave that tomato taste in the winter, as I do, I think you will like this. Let me know what you think if you try it.
PS--While these can be stored in the refrigerator...they must reach room temperature or be gently heated for best flavor.
That will be just the thing for the last half of the grape tomatoes I bought last week. YOu sure did describe tomatoes well this time of year....LOL cardboard is right!
ReplyDeleteI may have to try this. As long as I don't forget about them in the oven. I fixed a veggie tray for New Years and used grape tomatoes. I set the dish outside on my back porch (no refrigerator room) and the tomatoes tasted awful. It wasn't long before I realized that they had frozen up a bit. Being the veggie with the most water inside, they froze first where the other veggies didn't.
ReplyDeletefunny that you mention tomatoes right now. i just had a wonderful salad which had grape tomatoes in it. my hubby made the salad for me and halved the grape tomatoes. i told him this was the first time in a couple of months that the tomatoes tasted like real tomatoes! they were sweet and yummy. when i grew them in the south i sometimes would not be able to make it into the house before i was biting into one off my vine. out here they don't taste the same...our summers are not hot enough or sunny enough and they are just NOT the tomatoes i love!
ReplyDeleteDave is a bulb fanatic and we are looking forward to veggies. This recipe looks GREAT! Thanks
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