roasted tomatoes

Going through my "winter food" photo album in iPhoto I found these pretty pictures of roasted tomatoes.  This is essentially a quick dinner idea, but only if you remember to start the tomatoes after lunch.  Roasting tomatoes in your oven with some herbs makes your kitchen smell fantastic and then gives you a starting point for making a quick dinner more delicious.

Last week cherry tomatoes were on special so I bought four bags of them.  This technique works for roma tomatoes, campari tomatoes, cherry tomatoes or whatever you have on hand.  I had a bounty of cherry tomatoes before the first killing frost that I saved from my in-laws garden and I roasted them too.  

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees (if you are going to really slow roast them, use 250 degrees).  

Remove the stems and halve your tomatoes.  

Spread some olive oil on a shallow roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet.  Place your tomatoes in the pan or on the sheet in a single layer.  Sprinkle with kosher salt and a little freshly ground pepper.  Sprinkle a tablespoon of basil and oregano over them (use less for fewer tomatoes, this was a very packed full sheet).  

Place in the oven and roast slowly for 2-3 hours at 300 degrees or 4-6 hours at 250 degrees.  

before roasting

after roasting, looks good!

Now comes the fun part.  I had simply sauteed some sliced boneless, skinless chicken breasts with a little salt and pepper in some olive oil.  I also steamed some green beans and tossed them with a little kosher salt and lemon juice.  Sara served her tomatoes on the side, but mine went on my chicken with a bit of feta cheese (goat cheese would be good too).  Some warm crusty Seeduction bread from Whole Foods and a nice quick dinner.  

That's not terribly creative, but absolutely delicious.  You could add a little garlic when you are roasting the tomatoes and simply toss with some hot pasta.  You could add these to meatloaf which would really make a savory turkey meatloaf added along with some Parmesan or Romano cheese.  You could use them on a quick pizza.  If you chilled them you could add them to a pasta salad or make a great chopped salad with chopped roasted tomatoes, chunky cubes of cucumber, a little lemon juice and feta or goat cheese.  Up to you!