In the last week, our late blooming summer garden kicked into high gear and we have a ton of tomatoes ready to be picked and eaten. Here’s a an easy to make and tasty recipe for Tomato Confit
Gardener William with a fresh crop of Jersey tomatoes. Some of the smaller ones will be turned into the Confit recipe below.
Don’t be fooled by the fancy-sounding name—these slow-roasted tomatoes are so simple to prepare and are a great way to use up a huge batch of garden fresh tomatoes. Many people use plum or Romas because they have fewer seeds and less liquid than other varieties, but we’ve experimented, and all tomatoes work great. We toss in everything we have including cherries and grapes of various sizes and color. Just keep the size uniform for even cooking. The lower and slower you cook them, the better the result. Cover in olive oil in a sealed container and store in the fridge and spread the confit on crostini with goat, mozzarella or parm, use as a pizza topper, on sandwiches, and anything else that deserves a deliciously sweet and savory kick
Ingredients
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1-2 tablespoons Kosher salt
Freshly ground white pepper (black pepper is fine too)
3 cloves garlic, peeled, split, germ removed and sliced thinly (you can smash with the back of your knife and keep whole too)
10 basil leaves, torn
4 sprigs thyme, leaves only
2 bay leaves, broken
20 or so ripe plum tomatoes (40 or so cherries, or a combo)
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sugar
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F…we use the convection setting
2. Line a baking sheet with foil and pour about 2 tablespoons olive oil evenly over the pan. Sprinkle the oil with salt and pepper. Strew a little of the garlic, basil, thyme, and bay leaves over the oil.
3. Cut each tomato lengthwise in half and carefully, with your fingers or a tiny spoon, remove the seeds (optional, and we often keep sees in)
4). Lay the tomato halves cut side down in the pan, wiggling the tomatoes around if necessary so that each tomato has a floss of oil on its cut side. Using a pastry brush, give the tops of the tomatoes a light coat of olive oil. Season the tops of the tomatoes with salt and pepper and a little sugar, and scatter over the rest of the garlic, basil, thyme, and bay leaves.
5) Slide the pan into the oven and bake the tomatoes for 2 1/2 hours, or until they are very tender but still able to hold their shape; turn the tomatoes over at half-time and open the oven for just a second every 30 minutes or so to get rid of the moisture that will build up in the oven.
6)Cool the tomatoes to room temperature on their pan. When the tomatoes are cool, transfer them to a jar, stacking them neatly. Pour whatever oil remains in the pan over the tomatoes and then, if you plan to keep the tomatoes longer than 1 or 2 days, pour in enough olive oil to cover and refrigerate.
