Oven Roasted Tomatoes

If you are lucky enough to have an excess of tomatoes this is a great way to make them last longer (or not!) and inspire 101 uses for them, and if you don't yet have tomatoes and are stuck with the slightly hard and colorless 'Roma' variety from the grocery store, this recipe will help punch-up the flavor until the vine-ripe yummy summer ones are ready or available.

Provencale Oven Roasted Tomatoes

8 (at least) ripe or semi-ripe tomatoes--any variety
Olive oil
Sea Salt
Herbes de Provence
1-2 cloves garlic as you like
Balsamic vinegar

Set your oven at 325--ish....You can go lower and leave them longer--but if you do around 300 then they will be in there around 2 hours.

Wash and slice tomatoes....the fun part is cutting out the top and jamming your thumbs in to remove all of the slimy-seedy part...beware of getting covered in tomato juice, though.  Lay them out in a dish and sprinkle with about 1 tbs. of oil, 1 tsp. of Balsamic and the herbs and garlic, toss in some salt....toss with your hands and then rearrange the slices in a single layer on parchment paper on a baking sheet.

 Note: I generously use the Herbes de Provence...it's the kind of herb mix that is perfect for slow roasting and only gets more intense the longer you keep the tomatoes.  Careful with the garlic--it can overwhelm the flavor of the tomatoes.

Once in the oven, the tomatoes can go to an almost dry stage...you can leave them for up to 4 hours--but put your oven down to the 200's after 2 hours.  Your house will smell heavenly and the slices reduce down about 50%....when they are done store them in a glass container. If you don't eat them straight off the baking sheet like I do!

Endless ways to eat them---in a fresh herb omelet, on homemade pizza, in a roasted tomato salsa, tossed with pasta, or on a tomato 'tarte' (recipe to follow for that one!)

Enjoy!  I would love to hear how you use them for recipes in your kitchen!