Tomato Confit

One of the great things with summer is the arrival of the most delicious, sweet and intense tomatoes you've had all year. Nothing screams summer like caprese and Greek salads full of sun ripened tomatoes, crispy BLT with a fried egg and even grabbing a slice of crusty day old rustic bread with garlic and smothering it with a piece of juicy summer tomato for a Catalunian style tapa.

One of my favorite things to do with tomatoes is slowly roasting them to intensify its flavor and enhance its sweetness. Again this works great on salads, pannini, baked into bread, but best of all on pasta. The great thing about this is you´ll end up with different products you can use...the tomatoes of course, plus a great savory scented oil that works great for making chimichurri sauce, drizzled over grilled trout or with vinegar for a great vinaigrette that goes absolutely amazing with arugula and prosciutto.

Tomato Confit


Ingredients:




12 Roma or Perita tomatoes quartered


3 cloves garlic, minced


1 sprig of thyme, minced


dried oregano or marjoram


olive oil


salt


Any monkey can do this, so put that banana away and lets get started...

Just place the quartered tomatoes on a non reactive baking sheet brushed with oil and season with the rest of the ingredients, drizzle with olive oil and bake at your oven's lowest setting for 2-4 hours; depending on your oven. Tomatoes should look dry and slightly browned, but not burnt, so check occasionally. There is really no point at where I can tell you its done...if you want it really dry, give it more time, if you prefer them a little more juicy take them out sooner (which makes for a killer roasted tomato soup). Once you are done, place them in a sterilized jar or container, drop a fresh thyme sprig, a couple of halved garlic cloves, and cover with a good extra virgin olive oil, we use Rancho Cortes olive oil which is probably the best in Baja, but you can use whatever brand you prefer, store in your fridge and use indiscriminately. And there ya' go.... tomato confit, isn´t it beautiful thing?