Roasting tomatoes brings out the amazing sweet and tartness of the tomato with an intense umami flavor. It’s great for many uses, like in a tomato sauce, Pico de Gallo, salads like Caprese, Panzanella etc. on sandwiches, on pizza, or even soup!
I don’t remember my Grandma roasting tomatoes, but when I start to smell them roasting in the oven, suddenly I am a kid again at her house and wonderful memories just come flooding back. Food memories are my favorite kind!
Slow roasting them is the best, but if you don’t have a few hours to keep the oven on, I’ve included a quicker method as well.
What you’ll need:
For the tomatoes I would recommend a medium sized tomato, but you can use cherry tomatoes as well. You want ones that have a more intense flavor already rather than a big watery tomato.
-3 cups cherry tomatoes or about a dozen or so medium sized. My picture here has about 16 tomatoes which was perfect for a few different applications (or for soup!)
-Olive oil for drizzling
-Sea salt
Optional:
Fresh thyme, basil oregano
How to roast:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees, and line a cookie sheet with tinfoil. This makes for much easier clean up- trust me!
Then cut the tomatoes in half. Don’t worry about removing the skin, it’s much easier to do once they are done.
Drizzle the GOOD olive oil over the tomatoes and sprinkle with sea salt. If you want to add herbs just lay them on top. I don't include, so I can be more versatile with how I use it later.
Once the oven is ready put them in and roast for 2-3 hours. The time will vary depending on your size and water content of the tomatoes. You’ll begin to have this delicious aroma in your house once they are closer to being done – we cook and eat with all of our senses!
Once they are done, and somewhat cooled, you can easily peel off the skins. You’ll want to do this before any application, because the skin will be leathery.
Speedy version:
About an hour in to the roasting process you can turn the oven up to 350 degrees to cut down on the cooking time. Don’t turn it up any higher than that or too soon because then the tomatoes will burst instead of the light shrivel that you want.
This makes about 2 1/2 cups.
I typically roast most of my cherry tomatoes when they start multiplying on the vine (in August in Ohio) and I cannot keep up with them. Then, if I am not using them to cook right away, I put them in a jar (with the sea salt and flavors of the oil these were roasted in) and put a lid on them in the refrigerator for a few days, or in a freezer bag and freeze them. (this is great for sauces or toppings on baked chicken.)