Slow Roasted Tomatoes

An unusual mid-week post today. I actually have some time off right now and am enjoying it immensely. This includes plenty of extra time in the kitchen! What I want to share today is not really much of a recipe, but a very simple method for preparing slow roasted tomatoes. I miss tomatoes so much in the winter, and every time I see them for sale at the grocery store I secretly want to buy them, but I resist because I know they will have no flavor and a poor texture. It's just not worth buying fresh tomatoes in the winter, unless that is, you want to do something like this to them. 

Slow roasting tomatoes is such a wonderful thing to do with those sad winter tomatoes. You're basically just drying them out and intensifying the sweet and savory flavor of the tomato. When these are done they are almost like candy they are so sweet. I think they are absolutely fantastic on basically anything, and so easy. All it takes is an afternoon in a low oven and you can have a whole tray of these sweet jewels. 

You can pretty much roast these for as long as you want depending on your desired level of dry-ness at the end. I went for 5 hours this time and they were pretty dried out and very sweet, but still had a little hint of juiciness left. Keep testing them from time to time as they roast until they seem to be right where you want them. If you're going to leave your oven on for 5+ hours one afternoon, I recommend roasting up a big batch of tomatoes, make it worth it. Cutting up a few more tomatoes doesn't take very long, and then you'll have a huge stash for the days and weeks to come. 

Slow Roasted Tomatoes
From Delectably Mine
Ingredients

• 4 Roma tomatoes, cut into quarters, core removed
• A few garlic cloves
• Olive oil, 
• Coarse salt, 
• Freshly cracked pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 225-235 degrees and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Drizzle tomatoes and garlic cloves with olive oil and sprinkle with a nice amount of salt and black pepper.  Place tomatoes in a single layer on prepared baking sheet and roast for approximately 5 hours (or however long you want), rotating the sheet occasionally. Watch the garlic cloves closely, and if they appear to be getting too cooked remove them before the tomatoes are finished. Remove tomatoes from oven and let cool. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days, or freeze indefinitely.