I. Love. Tomatoes. Whether they're fresh or sundried.. I absolutely LOVE 'em! And when I saw an episode of Barefoot Contessa where Ina Garten showed how to make roasted tomatoes, I knew I was going to try it out for myself sooner or later.
It's one of the most simplest, fool-proof recipes around so if you wanna give it a go, here's what you need :
Ingredients
- 12 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, cores and seeds removed
- 4 tablespoons good olive oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Preheat the oven to 232 degrees C.
I personally didn't make that many. I just started off with 4 roma tomatoes. Anyways, cut all your tomatoes in half and remove the seeds. Personally, I can't bring myself to throw the seeds away so I just mix it up in some vinaigrette dressing and turn it into a simple salad. Waste not want not!
Lay the tomatoes out, cut side up, onto a baking tray and drizzle them over with some good quality olive oil...
... balsamic vinegar...
Sprinkle salt and black pepper...
...brown sugar...
I decided to add an extra ingredient to my tomatoes - Italian herbs!
... and sprinkled those over the tomatoes...
Then I simply placed the tray of tomatoes in my pre-heated oven and left them in there for a full 30 mins...
While they were cooking, I could smell the combination of balsamic vinegar and herbs in the air! Mmmmmm....!
I heard the Ping! of the oven indicating my 30 mins were up but I left the tomatoes to caramelize further in the oven. When I took them out, some parts looked like they were burnt, but it was actually the balsamic vinegar having concentrated in the heat. Which made the flavour of the tomatoes that much more heavenly!
It takes less than 10 mins to prepare and the rest of the magic just happens in the oven. If you like, finely chop up some fresh basil and sprinkle it over the tomatoes before serving. So have fun trying out the recipe. You'll have even more fun eating it! (I ate mine with breakfast rolls and cheese and garlic butter. Yummy!!)
