oven roasted tomatoes

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I grew up cooking. It’s just something I’ve always done and my parents never seemed to stand in my way. In the early days my younger sister, Lauri, usually kept her distance from culinary activity, only venturing into our family kitchen to make two things; vegetarian chili and hot dogs (the kind with pigs lips, ears, tails, hooves, anuses etc......what? Charcuterie is totally hot right now!).

She moved to San Francisco some twelve years ago, specifically to follow love. She still lives there today, where she serves as general manager at the Michelin star awarded Range. She knows a thing or two about food and wine, still likes vegetarian chili, and wouldn’t be caught dead eating a hot dog (unless it's veggie). When she heard about my surplus of earlybird tomatoes from Peter Linenko, she kindly shared this recipe with me, via the telephone:

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

16 (approx.) small to medium tomatoes, cut in half
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ tbsp balsamic vinegar
½ tsp salt
fresh ground black pepper
½ tsp oregano

Preheat oven to 300*. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Put tomato halves in a large bowl. Then put all remaining ingredients in a smaller bowl, stirring well. Add olive oil mixture to the tomatoes and toss gently. Place tomatoes on the cookie sheets, cut sides facing up. Drizzle a tiny bit of the olive oil mixture on top of each tomato. (save the rest of the olive oil mixture to use for salad dressing or a marinade) Place cookie sheets in the oven and check after 1 hour. If tomatoes are not yet starting to shrink, continue to bake another 15-30 minutes. Allow tomatoes to cool.

Serving suggestions: Chop up oven roasted tomatoes and serve in a salad, pasta or egg scramble, in a sandwich, or on top of pizza or bruschetta.