Roasted Plum Tomatoes

Roasted Plum Tomatoes are a real favorite of ours. With all the rains we have been having, tomatoes are pretty abundant in our garden. So I thought this would be a good weekend project. My sister makes these weekly in season using her dehydrator, but I much prefer the oven method. This weekend I used my Roma tomatoes.. a favorite for roasting, making two trays and I made one tray of cherry tomatoes up for my neighbor. You can use any tomato that is growing in your garden, or stop by your local farmers market to pick up a nice selection there. I made two trays, one with with ground anise seed added to my blend. The herbal choices are endless, so give it a try & experiment with flavoring. Spread your roasted tomatoes over baked eggplant, or topping for bruschetta, over other grilled veggies- zucchini & squash, add a few to your risotto ( yum!) or in your pasta dishes. But don’t forget to sample a few right off the cookie sheet.. warm from your oven!

· 2 lb fresh picked Roma tomatoes
· 2-4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
· 6 garlic cloves, mashed and diced
· dried herbs: basil, oregano, summer savory, thyme
· ground anise seed (opt)
· sea salt, white pepper



Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Wash tomatoes and slice in half. Spread them in a single layer on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Drizzle with half the olive oil. Sprinkle with chopped garlic and dried herbs or your own preferred herbal blend. Pop into the oven and bake for 5 hours, or until the texture is right. I don’t care for overly crisp dried tomatoes, so this is the cooking time that works best for me. When they are done baking, I simply flip each tomato over and slide the peels right off. I like to leave a few peels on for variety. Drizzle with remaining olive oil and let cool. Pack your roasted tomatoes into zip lock bags and refrigerate if you are planning to use them up soon.. they freeze beautifully, and there’s nothing nicer than having your own home grown roasted tomatoes for your winter dishes, if you can wait that long :o) Enjoy!