Backyard bounty or farmer’s markets, friend’s gardens, or roadside stands, there’s no denying the appeal of a counter filled with late summer tomatoes.
When I started experimenting with roasting times and temperatures, I didn’t know I would be making highly-addictive tomato candy. My sweetie had to gently suggest I stop my maniacal late night nibbling.
I may sneak back out to the kitchen when he’s asleep.
Oven-roasted cherry and Roma tomatoes are delicious, luscious, and candy-like at 200 degrees for six hours + one hour at 300 degrees (total hours = 7). Add a little more time if your tomatoes are bigger.
I tried 250 degrees on convection for three hours, which yielded the same look, but the flavor was only “really nice reduced tomato flavor”. Not bad at all; very tasty, in fact. But if one compares the two? Long low heat wins the day.
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Oven-Roasted Tomatoes
Cut small tomatoes in half, set cut-side-up on a rimmed baking sheet, toss with one tablespoon ith garlic-infused olive oil (or for a fat-free version, toss with a bit of vegetable stock, and use a silicone mat or parchment paper), sprinkle with a tiny amount of sea salt and black pepper. Roast at 200 degrees for six hours + one hour at 300 degrees (total hours = 7). If your tomatoes are a little larger, keep roasting until they look like the photo, above 🙂
Do try to resist gobbling.
Great on pizzas, tossed with pasta, on crackers, as sandwich ingredients, over brown rice with other roasted veggies, inside pita pockets, and any other tomato-y thing your fine mind can conjure.