As a gardener, going away or taking vacation in the summer is always a bit of a deal with the devil. On the one hand, a long weekend spent camping (or whatever) is awesome! On the other hand, when you come back home, you are likely to find your tomato plants have taken over your yard, climbed up your house siding, and are working their way into the second story windows.
At the very least, a 19-pound zucchini is pretty much inevitable.
We went camping for a few days on the Olympic Peninsula with our friends (see obligatory Pacific Northwest ferry selfie….)
…and came home to tomatoes for days. Seriously, it’s like all my tomato plants saw me drive away and thought, “This is our moment! Live free or die!” and went into overdrive.
I know many of you guys are in the same boat – harvesting tomatoes as fast as you can. When you’ve had your fill of caprese salad, try these Oven Roasted Herb Confit Tomatoes.
This recipe, shared from my book, is a low-effort way to process a ton of tomatoes. Pop the resultant soft, intense, slightly caramelized tomato halves in your freezer. Come winter, you’ll be so glad you made a batch or five.
These tomatoes make an easy sauce for pasta, and are lovely alongside (or stuffed inside) fish or chicken. Toast a little slice of bread, smear it with goat cheese and top with a chopped, roasted tomato half for a lovely holiday appie. Use these in place of anemic supermarket tomatoes on burgers, sandwiches, salads, and more. Mash them up for a lovely tomato spread that’s excellent on flatbread or pizza, or for stirring into a bowl of white beans or lentils.
Versatility, thy name is Confit Tomatoes.
Oven-Roasted Herb Confit Tomatoes
I can about 100 quarts of basic crushed tomatoes every summer in a giant preserving push I call can-o-rama. One year, I was just over canning tomatoes. I was sick of the steamy kettle, sick of standing in front of my stove, sick of peeling tomatoes. It would have been a great time to take a break from preserving until the apples came ready.
Only one problem: I still had forty pounds of local Roma tomatoes on my counter, and they didn’t care that it was high summer and my tired feet were so sweaty they were starting to smell like wet dog. I decided to come up with a way to process all those tomatoes while sitting down. This recipe is the result. The quantities given here are for one sheet pan’s worth of tomatoes, but it’s simple to scale the quantities to accommodate multiple batches if you have extra tomatoes on hand.
Oven-Roasted Herb Confit Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 5 pounds thick-fleshed Roma or other canning-type tomatoes
- 10 large cloves garlic, peeled
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Fresh or dried herbs, such as thyme, oregano, basil, or bay leaf
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Get a big sheet pan (or several, if you have a lot of tomatoes and a big oven) and line it with parchment paper. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the parchment.
- Wash and core the tomatoes. Slice them in half lengthwise, and set the halves on the prepared sheet pans, seed cavities facing up. The tomatoes can be very snug on the pan because they will shrink as they cook, but they should be arranged in a single layer.
- Scatter the garlic over the tomatoes, then drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons oil over the tomato halves. Sprinkle the tomatoes generously with salt and pepper, then scatter whatever herbs you might have over the top—several sprigs of fresh thyme seem nearly essential, some oregano and basil are nice. If you have a bay leaf, drop that onto the pan, too. If you have no fresh herbs, a pinch each of dried thyme and dried basil will do just fine.
- Put the tomatoes in the oven and roast for several hours—at least 3 but up to 7—depending on how big the tomatoes are and how soft and caramelized you like them. Roast until the tomatoes are collapsed and tender throughout and beginning to brown and caramelize nicely on the bottom.
- Pick out anything that looks unpleasant to eat like an herb twig or bay leaf, then fill wide-mouthed mason jars or plastic freezer bags with the tomatoes, garlic, and any herbs clinging to them. Divide all the lovely infused roasting oil from the sheet pan evenly into the jars with the tomatoes.
- Lidded tightly, the tomatoes will keep in the refrigerator for several days, and in my home a jar never lasts that long. I freeze most of the confit in widemouthed pint-size jars. If you make sure the tomatoes are submerged in juices and oil (add an extra glug of olive oil to the jar if needed) and press a layer of plastic wrap onto the tomatoes before lid- ding and freezing them, they will keep for at least 6 months. If you use freezer bags, simply squeeze out as much air as possible before sealing.
Stuff!
You can pre-order my book The Hands-on Home now via Amazon.
For you shop-local types, the rumor on the street is that several indie bookstores are going to be carrying the book, too. I’ll share which local bookstores (Elliott Bay? Yeah? huh?) will be carrying it as soon as I know.
Here’s where I give myself permission to use my own recipe: (c)2015 by Erica Strauss. All rights reserved. Excerpted from The Hands-On Home: A Seasonal Guide to Cooking, Preserving, and Natural Homekeeping by permission of Sasquatch Books.
Tomato Confit Photo by the charming, lovely and uber-talented Charity Burggraaf.
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Barb says
Those sound so yummy! I just want to layer a bunch on pizza….right now!!! Will definitely have to try. Sounds even simple enough for me to handle.
Glad to see you got away for a few days to enjoy this crazy hot summer.
Barb
Erica/Northwest Edible Life says
Super simple – and great on ‘za. Thanks Barb, it was nice to get away!
Ien in the Kootenays says
OK. You got me. I was disappointed at first to see a book on housekeeping rather than gardening but this is very convincing. Why do I never get that amount of tomatoes? Probably too much nitrogen in the COF. As usual the plants are splendid, just not as much fruit as I think is my due.
Erica/Northwest Edible Life says
I think it’s all about nighttime lows – even in a hot year, dropping down into the low 60s overnight really checks the ripening. Hope you do like the book, Ien. 🙂
Christy says
I make oven roasted tomatoes every summer but I’ve never put garlic and herbs on them. I think I’ll be giving your recipe a try as soon as I have more tomatoes. I like to use mine on pizza instead of regular pizza sauce. I’ve also diced the tomatoes and added them to sauteed mushrooms for omelettes.
Erica/Northwest Edible Life says
I like the added herby flavor but the truth is, any slow roasted tomato is good!
Holly says
Powell’s Books in Portland has your book available for pre-order on their website. I ordered my copy today!
Erica/Northwest Edible Life says
Thank you so much for the order, and for the heads up! Link for anyone else who wants to order through Powell’s.
Kyle says
This, tonight. My windows are open listening to the hopefully-never-ending-rain. I have two new boxes of tomatoes. This doesn’t require a trip to the store. I’m going to put a batch of these in while I can the rest.
I put up three boxes a couple of weeks ago pretty painlessly and am now ready for Round 2!
Erica/Northwest Edible Life says
Right on, Kyle – let me know how they turned out for you!
Kyle says
I checked back in just to say that these are great! Mine took about four hours to get the full effect. They go nicely with my goal for the year of focusing on growing and/or preserving significant amounts of my kitchen staples: eggs, potatoes, garlic, shallots, leeks, greens, and tomatoes. This year I am finally starting to feel like I *have* a food culture rather than just *trying* to have a food culture.
Andrea says
Wonderful recipe!
I´m curious: who takes care of the poultry while you are away?
Erica/Northwest Edible Life says
My neighbor’s daughter. They also have ducks and chickens, so she is very capable. When they go out of town, my daughter takes care of their poultry. Each kid earns some spending money, and both families feel pretty confident about animal care. Works well.
Nancy Sutton says
Got my pre-order in!! Thanks, again, Erica for … everything 😉
Erica/Northwest Edible Life says
Thank you so much Nancy! <3
Lazy Harp Seal says
I’m thinking rosemary, or my go-to fav: summer savoy, maybe an ad hoc herbes de provence combo unless you think it’d be too cluttered. Would you say your tomatoes confit are comparable to “sun dried” tomatoes or is it a totally different texture?
Erica/Northwest Edible Life says
They have a definite similarity to the sun drieds that come pre-soaked in olive oil, but I think these are better. There isn’t that same chewiness – they stay softer than sun dried, but get denser, and there’s a real concentration of flavors that happens. I will be honest – I have an aversion to the flavor of lavender in nearly everything, so I generally avoid herbs de provence but if you like that blend, it is a natural with tomatoes and will totally work. Rosemary is also fine, but strong – I would do whole sprigs, and pull them out completely with the leaves as best you can after the roasting.
greg says
I have been doing almost the same thing for years (I use salt, pepper, garlic, chopped onion and basil).
After baking, I run the batch through me food processor. Then I freeze the resulting glop into eight to ten ounce bricks. After freezing I vacuum seal the bricks and store in the freezer. A brick can be thawed in a couple of minutes in the microwave. Makes a great base for pasta sauce or pizza topping.
Ien in the Kootenays says
FAIL. The parchment paper let through the oil, and I suspect my oven, set to 250, is too hot. Anyway by the time I smelled them they were burnt. My bad, Will try again and I pre ordered the book.
Erica / Northwest Edible Life says
Oh no! Do you have an oven thermometer? At 250 it should take hours before these things even get very caramelized, much less burnt. 🙁
ms says
Thank you for sharing this recipe in advance – it’s very, very timely! I can now see the top of my kitchen counters again where there was a huge pile of tomatoes before.
I did a big batch this past weekend. It was super easy and they turned out phenomenal! Put a couple jars in the freezer for when the garden is sleeping and the ‘fresh’ tomatoes in the grocery aisle in the winter are nasty, thick-skinned replicas of actual tomatoes. Had some on toasted bread one night and last night I put some on pasta, combined with some zucchini thyme from the Food In Jars book. That zucchini recipe was supposed to be a spread consistency but I wanted a bit more texture left – so I used half cubed and half grated zucchini and didn’t cook it quite as long. Great flavor combo! Both very seasonal – and a satisfying meal with no meat required.
Your book is at the top of my list for my upcoming birthday in early September. (The Husband prefers a list so he knows what I’ll actually use.) I’ll ask him to please make sure to place the order inside the PreOrder window. Please give us all a heads up when that window is about to close!
ms says
Correction – sorry – that zucchini recipe was in Preserving by the Pint – page 85. Also have jars of this in the freezer for the winter days when I’m longing for the days of garden zucchini.
Casey says
Those are gorgeous! Would something like this work with “regular” larger tomatoes? I’m expecting some in this week’s CSA.
ms says
So hooked am I on this recipe that I made another batch yesterday. I used some ‘regular’ larger tomatoes, Casey, and just cooked them a bit longer. Fabulous! 🙂
Rachel says
I just made these tomatoes with Hatch Green Chiles that my friend brought up from Hatch, NM and it was sooo good! I could eat it with a spoon. Hatch chiles are at Fred Meyer right now if you are interested in some. This is so good on eggs, burgers, burritos, rice, etc..
Thanks for the recipe!
Devan says
I will definitely be utilizing this recipe, thank you! And I pre-ordered the book, woo hoo! 🙂
Jodie says
This is the best way to cook these tomatoes – that’s how I do it, also! And it never lasts long. Delicious!!
Rhonda says
My second batch is in the oven now. I only have 2 plants on my patio but they are producing more than we can eat pm a daily basis. These are delicious!
Nancy Sutton says
Fabulous indeed!! These are the best tomatoey thing I’ve ever tasted… talk about the overused word ‘pop’! I’m looking forward to growing LOTS of tomatoes next year and filling the freezer with these, stick blended into sauce. Thanks for the inspiration 😉 (I usually grow tomatoes just because I’m ‘supposed’ to, I guess, but no more 😉