Slow roasted oven tomatoes

So easy to make, roasting tomatoes enhances their natural sweetness, making them even more delicious.

Use them to make a satisfyingly simple tomato sauce or add to sandwiches, salads, omelettes or bruschetta.

Set oven to 250F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut tomatoes in half and place cut side up on sheet. Sprinkle with a little olive oil. I like to add fresh rosemary and rock salt to half and garlic salt & lavender pepper to the rest. However you can experiment with other herbs like thyme, basil or parsley. Leave for a couple hours until they’re soft and bursting with flavor.

Use whatever tomatoes you like except maybe the big beefsteak kind. For this one I used roma tomatoes. Romas are drier so won’t produce as much liquid as say the cocktail variety. The more ripe the tomato, the more liquid it will give off as it cooks. Under ripe tomatoes won’t yield much, if any, liquid.

Store oven roasted tomatoes in the fridge, in an air-tight container or mason jar with their juice, for 5-7 days.

Elevated tomato/basil pasta sauce:

Instead of rosemary, add torn basil leaves and peeled garlic cloves to baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Once they’re cool pour into a blender in batches. Pulse 2-3 times then blend until desired chunkiness. Pour into quart jars or pour into freezer bags to freeze flat. Add whatever extras you want but you might find you don’t need to. It’s a very fresh tasting sauce.

Will keep in the refrigerator for 1 week or 4 months in the freezer.