Oven Roasted Vine-Ripened Tomatoes

This tomato confit is spectacular on almost anything!

There’s nothing like a tomato fresh out of the garden. It tastes like a childhood memory: sun hot and bursting with the perfect balance of acidic sweetness. This summer, my tomatoes had a very slow start, then raptured into a lively tangled jungle. Each day I rose at the first light of morning when the air is filled with the silence of still. First out to renew my spirit as I nurture Mother Nature’s unfolding bounty and celebrate the wonder and miracle of each tender vein. Yes, I talk to my plants. I pat, pet, prop and pander. Once all are welcomed, well and watered, it is time for gathering my garden candy. The sweet little golden orange “Sun Sugar” variety are always my plucking preference, but together with the “Sweet 100’s”, new varietal grape tomatoes, the cherry romas, and others, create a jewelled medley.

Are these not gorgeous?

We eat our fill, give to whomever would enjoy, and then I clean and dry them in my convection oven at 170 degrees Fahrenheit. You can see I sliced some of the larger ones.

I then add some beautiful hand mined sea salt because I love the intensity and the texture of it. I peel and chop a generous bulb of garlic, and sprinkle the bits throughout, although I didn’t do that with this one batch; however, I did discover that the addition of the garlic, not to my surprise, is essential for my palate. I then drizzle all with a beautiful olive oil.

On that topic, quite honestly, each time I travel through Italy I collect several of “the best” DOP labelled bottles found in Tuscany and bring each back to compare to what I can find and buy in my prairie home. I have rarely found any as good as The Real Canadian Superstore‘s Splendido Cold Pressed Olive Oil (of course, this comes from Italy anyway!). This is truly an excellent olive oil.

It usually takes 12 hours for one dish and 24 hours if two are in the same oven. The aroma is so appealing that they do get ogled at more than necessary.

YUM! The intensity of this flavour combination is a winner. Commanding all umami taste buds to stand at attention, this little garden concoction has it all. Here are the before and after shots.

They are plopped into a sterile jar, topped with every last drop of the remaining nectar, and frozen for future use…

… and ladled over some fresh bocconcini is just one of the many ways I use this treat in my kitchen over the cold winter months. A new kind of comfort food. The kind grown in my own garden, created with the most basic ingredients, made with my own hands: definitely my labour with love. Nothing is more comforting than that to those in my little corner of the world, I hope. (Another sigh of satisfaction for the simplest of small pleasures.)

Pin1

1 Shares