My New Favorite Thing...

I mentioned these slow-roasted tomatoes on one of my last posts.



I have tried, unsuccessfully, to make roasted tomatoes before. Surprisingly, I've found that the secret lies in the quality of the tomatoes. I know this probably doesn't sound surprising, but stay with me. The secret is poor-quality, winter white, cardboard tomatoes. I've tried to roast tomatoes from my garden - local, sugary-sweet, jewel-colored specimens, and they were disappointing to say the least. After reading one of Ina Garten's cookbooks, I found that she suggests roma tomatoes, which you can find year-round in a large bin at your local grocery store. Her recipes are consistently flawless and this recipe is certainly no exception.

Here are the tomatoes before they were slow-roasted



And after



The application is so simple, but so versatile. I like topping a piece of baguette with a smear of goat cheese and a tomato slice.



Last night I topped tilapia fillets with slices of slow-roasted tomatoes, chopped zucchini, slivered mint and chives (from my garden), yellow pepper, feta cheese, and lemon. I drizzled the mixture with olive oil, salt and pepper. The topping was seriously amazing. I am brainstorming a little in order to create the perfect dish. I wasn't totally satisfied with the tilapia, does anyone have any other suggestions? I think chicken would be too dense - maybe cod? sea bass? I do think this would make a terrific topping for pizza, maybe with naan or pita.

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Even though the fish recipe wasn't a perfect result, the tomatoes are definitely worth trying. They are inexpensive, simple, and can be used in many different ways.

Ina's Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

roma tomatoes, cored and sliced into third
olive oil
garlic powder
balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper

drizzle roma slices (on baking sheet) with all ingredients and roast at 275 degrees for 2 hours