You know those tomatoes that you can only get in the late summer/early fall? The ones that are sweet and taste like a summer’s day? The ones that make you feel like you’re actually eating sunshine? Well, it turns out that when you cook them slowly in olive oil with herbs they take on a whole new level of joy.
And from the second they were in the oven; I was grinning like a fool.
Seriously. I was giddy.
Jedd came through the front door and asked, “What smells so good?”
And I yelped, “Tomato confit!”
Once they’d been in the oven for an hour and a half I gave the oil a taste. And I had Jedd try some too.
I’ll let him describe what they taste like.
“This is awesome, but, I can’t really describe it. The tomatoes are light, but have more tomato-ey flavor. They’re subtle, but they’re not. They’re bright, and deep at the same time, you know? I love this!”
To celebrate, he made homemade ciabatta that we slathered with ricotta and topped with the tomatoes and their oil.
We didn’t even mind when the oil dripped down our wrists.
Like I said, confit tomatoes are the happiest food!
Cherry Tomato Confit: The Happiest Food
Ingredients
- 1 pint of cherry tomatoes
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion roughly chopped
- 6 fresh thyme stalks
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
- Place the tomatoes in an 8x8 or oval gratin dish. Pour the oil over the tomatoes, nestle 3 thyme stalks, the bay leaves and onion in between the tomatoes.
- Cook for 45 minutes.
- Remove the cooked thyme stalks, and add in the 3 remaining thyme stalks, for an extra bit of fresh thyme flavor.
- Cook for another 45 minutes.
- The tomatoes are done when they’re still firm, but cooked through.
- Store the tomatoes and oil together in an airtight container for up to 1 week.