Description
Roasted tomatoes look and taste gourmet, but it’s incredibly easy to make—the oven does all of the work for you. Grab all of your ripe end-of-summer tomatoes and make a big pot of this delicious roasted tomato recipe. Serve it with crusty bread to impress your friends, or spoon it on top of chicken or fish. It freezes well, so don’t be shy with how much you make.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 3 pounds ripe tomatoes, remove the cores of thick ones and chop the large ones; leave small ones whole
- 1 large or two small shallots (substitute any onion if needed)
- 3–6 cloves of garlic, smashed open and skins discarded
- 4–5 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt or kosher salt (more or less to taste)
- a few spins of freshly ground black pepper (more or less to taste)
- optional: a pinch of red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F (149°C). Clean the tomatoes if they need it and remove the stems. Core the large ones and chop into 1-to-2-inch pieces. Slice the smaller ones in half. Throw grape or cherry tomatoes in whole.
- Peel and slice the shallot(s) into 3-5 long pieces. Smash open the garlic cloves and discard the skins.
- Place the tomatoes, shallots, and garlic in a large oven-safe pot or Dutch oven (I use a 6-quart Le Creuset Dutch oven). Avoid cast-iron that is not coated in enamel because the acid in the tomatoes will react to it.
- Drizzle the olive oil on top until it comes up about 1/4 to 1/2 inch up the side of the tomatoes on the bottom. This will be about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt and a bit of black pepper. Add a pinch of pepper flakes if you want. Remove the thyme leaves from a few sprigs and sprinkle them around, then place a few whole sprigs on top.
- Cover the pot and place it in the oven for 2 hours. Remove the lid and cook another 1-2 hours until the tomatoes are broken down and caramelized. Your roasted tomaotes are done when the tomatoes are a deep golden color. The entire process will take 3-4 hours depending on how much liquid was in your tomatoes; this varies per batch! Check it at 3 hours and let it cook another hour or so until the tomatoes are a deep golden color and the garlic and shallots are falling apart. See the image above for reference.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool for 10-15 minutes—they are hot! Serve immediately with toasty sourdough bread, on top of chicken or fish, or as a side dish. Let it come to room temperature if saving. Save any leftovers in an airtight glass container in the fridge up to a week, or in the freezer in a freezer-safe container up to 3 months.
