Slow Tomatoes

by Shauna Sever — March 24, 2008

I love a good, elaborate dish just like anyone else. I can appreciate the orchestra of many different flavors and the hours it takes to put together a truly great meal. But sometimes the best dishes are the simplest, just one star ingredient with a few tiny pinches of this or that and a nice, slow cooking technique that somehow makes the main player taste like the most amazing version of itself. So is the case with tomatoes, parked in a low oven for hours with a little sprinkling of something to liven things up.

Before we get into those beloved hot summer months of fat, bright tomatoes and long dinners with friends over fresh caprese salads and white wine as the oven stays cold until late September, take advantage of the decent tomatoes that are just starting to show up at good prices in the market and jazz them up with a long, slow roast.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes
Serves 4

The finished tomatoes are great with pasta, on sandwiches, or alone on thick slices of bread.

3 ½ pounds fresh roma tomatoes
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 250°. Drizzle about half the olive oil onto a large baking sheet. Trim off the stem end of the tomatoes, slice them in half lengthwise and place in rows, cut side up, on the baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle the diced onion over the tomatoes and drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bake for 3-5 hours, the longer the better, until the tomatoes are soft and juicy and appear slightly leathery at the edges.