Seeing Red

It was a fruitful trip to the farmers market this week, as I found a tomato vendor selling big baskets of "seconds" for a measly $6.  I looked them over and they were in great shape.  None were overripe or nibbled on by birds, the only real issue was that many were a bit cat faced.  I snatched up a basket.

I got the bag home, and tossed it on my kitchen scale.  It weighed in at 6 1/2 lbs.  That's a lot of tomatoes.  Obviously, I am going to need to do something to preserve some of these, as they won't keep more than a week or so on my counter.  My first project was to confit some of them.  It's a relatively simple process where the tomatoes are slowly roasted in the oven with a good amount of olive oil.  The idea is to get much of the juice out of the tomato, so smaller ones are better for this, since the process would take too long with the big boys.

Here's the basic idea.  Slice the tomatoes in half crosswise, squeeze out the seeds, and arrange them cut side up in a foil lined sheet pan.  Top each tomato with a bit of sliced garlic, some fresh thyme, a bit of course salt, and some course ground pepper.  Pour a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil over them.  For a half sheet pan of tomatoes, you will likely need 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of oil.

Toss the pan into a pre-heated 300 degree oven for about 2 hours.  In the end the tomatoes should have shrunken a bit, and should be almost leathery.

Arrange the tomatoes in a clean jar, cut side up, and pour all of the oil from the pan into the jar.  There should be enough oil to cover the tomatoes, but if not, top off the jar with more olive oil.

The tomatoes will keep for two or three weeks in the fridge.  This actually works best with plum tomatoes.  The ones I had were globe tomatoes, which are a bit too juicy for this process.  No matter, they are still delicious, they just won't keep as long.  I guess I better get cooking.

A few uses:

• As is on sandwiches.  Great with turkey and havarti cheese.
• Diced up as a condiment for grilled chicken or fish.
• Coarsely chopped, tossed with some pasta and feta or parmesan cheese. 
• Tomato confit vinaigrette.  Finely dice 1 or 2 of the tomatoes, whisk together with 2 tsp of dijon mustard, 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar, 6 tbsp of the oil from the tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste.