Slow roasted tomatoes

[sfllaw]

Roasted tomatoes
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
In supermarkets, you can now find sun-dried or oven-roasted tomatoes. These often sell in tiny little packages for ludicrous prices when really all they amount to are low-grade tomatoes dried into shoe leather. This is not very appealing to me.

Instead, you should make them at home. Although it takes a lot of time for them to be ready, you really don't have to pay attention to them. Just start them off in the morning and pull them out in the evening. Or, if you are adventurous, have them roast in your sleep.

You'll find that drying out the tomatoes concentrates their flavour beautifully. Unlike reducing them in a sauce, the flavours don't get destroyed in the slow heat. Which means that biting into one is like biting into summer all over again. Which is great, because tomatoes are plentiful in the summer and don't keep for very long.

I like to use these in sauces or soups. But you can squish them between two pieces of bread and have a very decadent sandwich.

Slow roasted tomatoes
Ingredients

• 24 Roma tomatoes
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Directions

1. Try to find the ripest Roma tomatoes you can. They're the oval ones that Italian grandmothers make into tomato gravy because they have a good solids-to-liquids ratio. You are going to make something equally delicious. So pick through the tomatoes to find the best ones.
2. When you get home, wash them thoroughly.
3. Get a big cookie sheet. Slice the tomatoes in half lengthwise and arrange them such that they all fit. Don't worry about cramming them in too much, they'll shrivel up and shrink.
4. Splash olive oil freely over the tomatoes. Then season lightly with salt and pepper to taste. Don't put in too much, as the flavours will intensify as the water evaporates.
5. Stick them in the oven and turn the heat on as low as possible. Some people recommend using the pilot light in a gas stove, but I find that it doesn't get dry enough. So I set mine to 90°C.
6. Leave them to roast for about 10 hours or so, rotating the tin about half-way through. You're looking for the tomatoes to shrink and concentrate their flavour. You don't want them drying into leather, you just want them to stop being wet.
7. You should eat one and marvel at how tomatoey it is! It's so savoury, it's almost meaty. That's the umami you're tasting.
8. When they're done, bring them out of the oven and let them cool. You can remove the skins, but I don't bother. Put them into very clean jars and stick them in the refrigerator. They should last about a week or so.