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Garlicky Roasted Tomatoes

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Credit: Lauren Miyashiro

When tomatoes are in season , they’re juicy, sweet, and velvety, needing nothing more than a bed of crunchy bread, a swipe of mayo (or cream cheese, if you’re me), and a generous pinch of flaky sea salt (or everything bagel seasoning ). But when the days get shorter, the air gets crisper, and fall decor and pumpkin-shaped Reese’s start to creep into the pharmacy, summer’s most beloved savory fruit turns mealy and bland. When this happens, I’m only sad for a second — because in my opinion, roasted tomatoes are just as good. Maybe even better.

There are a couple of routes you can take to roast tomatoes: low and slow, or hot and fast. I’ve tested both, and my favorite is the latter. When cooked at 250°F for one to two hours, cherry and grape tomatoes intensify in flavor and soften into a jammy, caramelized consistency. Sounds incredible, right? But in an oven 200°F hotter, the results are nearly identical after only 20 to 25 minutes. Which means you can have the *most* amazing tomato toast 40 minutes to an hour and 20 minutes faster.

The Best Type of Tomatoes to Roast

As far as tomatoes are concerned, I prefer to go for the cherry or grape variety . You can keep them whole so that they burst when you bite into them, or you can halve them; the cooking time remains the same. A few garlic cloves and fresh sprigs of thyme add an intoxicating savory aroma, but are completely optional. Just don’t be shy with the olive oil and salt. The leftover extra-virgin olive oil in the pan will turn a beautiful shade of orange and is kissed with the flavor of tomato — don’t let it go to waste.

Do You Remove the Skin from Roasted Tomatoes?

Please don’t! You really won’t notice them while eating, and although the peels loosen from the flesh of the tomatoes in the oven, it’d be pretty tedious to remove each one. They also contain a high concentration of carotenoids, which act as a type of antioxidant (in other words, they’re good for you!).

How to Serve Roasted Tomatoes

• Piled onto creamy, garlicky ricotta toast (see recipe below!).
• Folded into lemony ricotta pasta or classic pasta salad .
• As a salad topper for, say, kale Caesar salad .
• Mixed into a frittata with whatever else you have on hand.
• Sandwiched in a BLT , chicken sandwic h, or turkey burger .

Credit: Lauren Miyashiro

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Roasted Tomatoes Recipe

Yield Serves 2 to 4 , Makes about 1 cup

Prep time 5 minutes

Cook time 20 minutes to 25 minutes

• shellfish-free
• fish-free
• alcohol-free
• vegetarian
• peanut-free
• pork-free
• pescatarian
• tree-nut-free
• soy-free
• egg-free
• red-meat-free

Per serving, based on 4 servings. (% daily value)

• Calories 328
• Fat 22.7 g (35.0%)
• Saturated 7.3 g (36.4%)
• Carbs 21.1 g (7.0%)
• Fiber 2.7 g (10.9%)
• Sugars 4.2 g
• Protein 11.2 g (22.4%)
• Sodium 458.6 mg (19.1%)

Ingredients

For the roasted tomatoes:

• 1 pint

  cherry or grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise if large (10 to 12 ounces)

• 1/4 cup

  olive oil

• 3 cloves

  garlic, unpeeled

• 1/2 teaspoon

  kosher salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 3

  sprigs fresh thyme (optional)

For serving (optional):

• 4

  thick slices bread

• 1 cup

  whole-milk ricotta

• Flaky sea salt

• Fresh basil leaves

Instructions

Roast tomatoes:

1. Arrange a rack in the center of the oven and heat oven to 450°F.

2. Add 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, 1/4 cup olive oil, 3 cloves garlic, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, and a few grinds of black pepper to a quarter sheet pan or medium baking dish and toss to combine. Scatter thyme on top of tomatoes, if using.

3. Roast tomatoes until tomatoes have burst and softened, 20 to 25 minutes. (They will be lightly browned in spots and the olive oil will turn orange in color.)

To serve:

1. Toast bread until golden-brown. Meanwhile, stir roasted garlic cloves into 1 cup whole-milk ricotta.

2. Spread ricotta onto toast, then top with roasted tomatoes. Drizzle leftover olive oil from the pan on top, then sprinkle with flaky sea salt and freshly torn basil.

Recipe Notes

Storage: Roasted tomatoes can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.

Lauren Miyashiro

Contributor

Lauren Miyashiro is a professionally trained recipe developer and food writer. She was most recently the food director at Delish.com where one her proudest accomplishments was successfully boiling an 8-pound bagel on camera. After over a decade living in NYC, she moved to the Bay Area with her husband (and supportive taste tester), daughter (and harshest food critic), and dog (and lazy coworker) and is currently on the hunt for decent pizza and bagels. She’s been known to make grown broccoli haters love the notorious vegetable, can turn almost anything into a crunchwrap, and almost always has a batch of on-demand frozen cookie dough in the freezer.

Source : food