slow roasted cherry tomatoes

For most people tomatoes are the epitome of summer. That one flavor that says long hot days and garden fresh. Our tomatoes are just starting to come in and I know we will have a good two months of fresh heirloom tomatoes from our garden and CSA. In the beginning it is hard to do more than to pick them and rinse in the hose before popping them right into my mouth.

My husband LOVES tomatoes too, but the acidity bothers him, so over the years I have expanded how I make tomatoes so that we can enjoy them more ways than only raw or for pasta in the early weeks. Today was the first day I picked enough tomatoes (isis candy cherry) to roast. When I am bringing them in by the bowl full I will start to dehydrate them too, but roasting is a fantastic way to enjoy them in smaller quantities. You can make huge trays of this, but I love making this in my toaster oven and use a ceramic pie dish or brownie pan. Using a toaster oven I don't have to heat the whole kitchen up on a hot day - they roast happily away and turn out perfectly every time. You can of course roast them in your full size oven. Roasting brings out the rich deep flavor of the tomatoes too.

I love roasting cherry tomatoes - but you can use any size of tomato. You will need to slice bigger tomatoes down into smaller pieces.


::slow roasted cherry tomatoes::

Slice cherry tomatoes in half, and place skin side down in your dish. Drizzle with olive oil and a nice splash of good quality balsamic vinegar (more vinegar than oil as it will cook down). Add a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Add some whole garlic cloves if you like. Place into your oven at 275ºF for a two or so hours until the balsamic looks sticky and reduced and the tomatoes are slightly smaller and getting curly at the edge. There is no exact time as it will depend on the size and type of your tomatoes - just roast until they get softer, smaller, a bit darker, and curly edged but not all dried out. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.

Chop some freshly picked basil leaves and scatter over the top, and if you like drop in some soft cheese. I used brie here, but you could use goat cheese, fresh mozzarella, or slivers of good quality Parmesan.

When you serve, be sure to drizzle some of the sticky reduced balsamic over the top. SO good!

CSA Box:: Week 9

Another week another great box!

In the box this week:: watermelon, beets, cucumber, banana & jalapeno peppers, summer squash/zucchini, a variety of tomatoes, sweet corn, carrots, lettuce, garlic

extras:: onions, garlic, parsley, mushrooms, and...a case of tomatoes


While I didn't necessarily like our previous CSA farm any less just because the pickup was at a delivery point in town (someones garage), for me there is just something more substantial and more real to picking up right at the farm. I always love walking through the barn, counting or weighing each item, and putting it into my box. The boys help me with the box, weigh things, write on the chalkboard, chat with the farm person, and hunt for bugs in the flowers. And each week we can see what 'extras' are available - garlic, onions, pickling cucumbers, sweet corn, tomatoes - always enough for canning and preserving!


This week we picked up a case of tomatoes - cracked/ripe. As soon as we got home I rinsed them all off, cored them, and popped them into my large canning pot to simmer away.


We have a lot of tomatoes growing in our garden, but with a small yard never enough to make everything we want for the winter, so we always pick up extras. We make pizza sauce, ketchup, pasta sauce, caponata, and more. And as we go through the end of the season we freeze diced tomatoes, make lots of salsa and can whole tomatoes. There is something very satisfying about going from garden or farm to pot to canning jar. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way, and that I am not the only one who had tomato seeds plastered all over the kitchen this week. :) Ahhh, summer!

What is in your CSA box this week? What are you harvesting from your garden?

panzanella.

This is the time of year when we are plucking ripe tomatoes from the vine just about every day, but we are not yet in buckets-full for sauces or canning. There is nothing better than a sliced tomato, warm from the garden, with just a sprinkling of sea salt and a grind of pepper. I often stand at the counter after coming in from the garden, sampling the tomatoes (I love to grow new varieties every year).

As the early weeks go on, I make tomato salads, add tomatoes to dinner, toss together small batches of salsa, and of course start to make panzanella. A Panzenella uses good stale bread, which just soaks up the flavors and cuts the acidity of the tomatoes. It is a perfect summer salad.


To make the 'croutons':
I use bread that is hard - usually a French baguette, or a nice Italian rustic loaf. Slice the bread, lightly coat in olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and toast in a toaster oven for 5 or so minutes. When out of the toaster, cut into cubes (if you don't have a toaster oven, a regular oven set to 350ºF is fine). If you can cut your bread into cubes from the start - go for it. I find that baguettes in particular can be hard to cut when stale, and the toasting with olive oil makes them crispy, but easier to cut.

ingredients::
2 large or 3-4 medium slicing tomatoes, cubed
1 small mild onion, very thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
3 cups of croutons
3-4 Tbsp good balsamic vinegar
5 Tbsp olive oil
Sea salt & pepper to taste
10-15 basil leaves - depending on how big/variety of basil you have, sliced
a few sprigs of parsley, chopped

Make your croutons. While they are in the toaster, cut your tomatoes, garlic and onions and put into a large bowl, sprinkle with a pinch of salt to get the tomato juices going. Add the balsamic and olive oil. When the croutons are out of the toaster and have cooled, toss them in with the bowl of ingredients. Make sure you toss/stir for a few minutes, to be sure that the croutons are evenly coated in the tomato/oil/vinegar mix. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Let sit for about 10 minutes, stirring here and there. Add the parsley and basil and stir. Taste, and add more salt & pepper to taste. Serve immediately!

Other good additions to a panzanella:: sliced cucumber or peppers.

This is not an exact recipe - depending on how big or how juicy your tomatoes are you can tweak how much vinegar/oil you add to get your bread to soak it up nicely. It should soak in fully, but not have a lot of standing liquid. If your tomatoes are small or more meaty than juicy, just add an extra one!

salsa fresca.

I love tomato season. There is something about the work. The constant barrage of ripening, one day at a time. We have had some tomatoes. Made into sauces, stewed, sliced, whole, cooked, raw, in eggs at breakfast, as a sandwich at lunch, and a salad at dinner.

Today was salsa day. We have been making tomato basil salsa for the past week in addition to the non-stop pots making sauce on the stove top. But today? Cilantro. Jalapeno. Tomatoes. Onions. Garlic. Limes. Salt. Good spicy fragrant salsa. Yum. I don't like the pureed don't know what is in it mosh of a salsa. I like the chunky brightly colored salsa fresca. It is great with chips, spooned over many dishes, or just by the spoonful.

::salsa fresca::

1 jalapeno, finely minced
1 red onion, finely chopped
3 small garlic cloves, finely minced
8 or so med/lg tomatoes, roughly chopped
bunch of cilantro, chopped (to taste)
juice of 1 lime
sea salt to taste
1/4 tsp agave (to cut acid)

Chop and mix, let sit...the longer the tastier it is. Store in fridge for up to a week or so. It won't last that long.