Slow Roasted Sicilian Cherry Tomatoes
Growing up in Queens we had a small urban garden that our family friends from Frosinone taught us how to plant and harvest. We grew tomatoes, green bell peppers, different types of lettuce, long green beans (serpentini) and peaches. At the height of the season about August, my mom would often send me to pick the tomatoes before they fell on the ground which was such a dreaded task for me since I’m squeamish about bugs. I didn’t know how lucky I was as a child, having freshly picked tomatoes from our garden. I love in season tomatoes whether it’s in simple tomato salads, used for sauces, in a soffritto, just about any way.
Now on my daily visits to the Sant’Ambrogio Farmer’s Market, I have my pick of so many varieties of tomatoes that are grown organically in different parts of Italy. I’m using Sicilian cherry tomatoes for this recipe, but you can slowly roast pretty much anytime of tomato. Fresh tomatoes have a delicate skin, and you have to go with a really low temperature to not blister the skin. In some recipes I want the blister or char, in this case I want to preserve the fresh taste of the tomatoes while slowly caramelizing them to enhance their natural sweetness.
This can be a great side for any dish really, I’m using them to make a sauce for gnocchi. Once I boil the gnocchi I add some of the pasta cooking water to marry the tomatoes to the pasta, and adding some grated Grana Padano DOP.
Slow Roasted Sicilian Cherry Tomatoes
Want to learn how to make gnocchi?
Ciliegini Siciliani Arrostiti a Bassa Temperatura
(Slow Roasted Sicilian Cherry Tomatoes, Shallot & Garlic):
Serves 2
Ingredients:
300-400g Cherry Tomatoes, halved
1 or 2 shallots, quartered lengthwise with skin on
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, smashed with skin on
EVOO
Salt to taste
Fresh basil (or any fresh herbs you have on hand)
Method:
Combine the cherry tomatoes, shallot, and garlic in a roasting pan. Drizzle generously with EVOO and salt to taste. If you’re using a woody herb like thyme, add that too if it’s a fresh fragile herb like basil, add at the very end of cooking. Slowly roast the tomatoes in a pre-heated oven at 100C or 225F for about an hour to hour and half stirring once or twice. The tomatoes are done when they’ve shrunk a bit, and intensified in flavor but don’t appear brown. Feel free to have as a side or dress with any pasta, adding some of the cooking water as needed to marry the sauce to the pasta.
