The second week of January always solidifies the 'realness' of Winter - at this point in the winter the magic of the holiday season has dwindled, the cold begins to hurt when walking outside, and the appearance of the sun feels like a treat rather than a regular part of the day. Today I'm missing the little red and yellow treasures of summer days - cherry tomatoes. These perfect little fruits burst with bright, bold sweetness and add a gorgeous acidity to salads, pastas, and crudité platters. Summer 2020 introduced me to the joys of confit cherry tomatoes. My favorite batches began with cherry tomatoes grown from my Grandma's garden patch but those from the grocery store followed closely behind. I adorned every dish I made in the late summer with these super simple and jammy tomatoes. I particularly loved them atop thick slices of sourdough bread topped with avocado, thickened Tofutti sour cream, or farmer's cheese. Here's how I made them: What you'll need:
+ 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes
+ 1 head of garlic, halved
+ 2 shallots, halved
+ 6 sprigs of thyme + 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (optional)
+ salt (2 generous pinches)
+ olive oil
How you'll do it:
Preheat oven to 250 F. In a deep baking dish toss your tomatoes, garlic, shallots, thyme, and salt. Sprinkle Add red pepper flakes for a kick of heat! While some overlap is okay, I found that the tomatoes would be more evenly done when in a single layer.
Top up your dish with olive oil until the tomatoes are about 1/2 - 3/4 of the way submerged.
Place, covered in your oven for 2-3 hours until soft and lightly browned.
Discard the thyme and let cool at room temperature. Store with oil in the fridge and hope they last more than a few days!
Enjoy!
Next summer I will absolutely freeze some for doses of summer in gray winter days. Stay warm everyone!
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