Roasted Plum Tomatoes

Roasted Plum Tomatoes

I love Ina Garten and recently bought her Back to Basics cookbook. Her recipes are simple with the emphasis on quality, fresh ingredients. They often work for me as written or with just a few tweaks.  Her recipe for roasted plum tomatoes in Back to Basics caught my eye.  Here's what she had to say about this recipe.

It's a challenge to take something pedestrian from the grocery store and make it really delicious. Plum tomatoes are available year-round but they generally have absolutely no flavor. I discovered that if I roast them at a high temperature with good balsamic vinegar, they develop the intense flavor of summer tomatoes. 

The only modification I made to her original recipe was to omit 2 teaspoons of sugar that she sprinkled on the tomatoes prior to roasting. Here's my version of Ina Garten's roasted plum tomatoes.

Roasted Plum Tomatoes

12 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, seeds (not cores) removed
1/4 cup good olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar
2 large garlic cloves, minced
salt for seasoning
freshly ground black pepper for seasoning

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Arrange the tomatoes on a sheet pan, cut sides up, in a single layer. Drizzle with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with the garlic, salt, and pepper. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, until the tomatoes start to caramelize and the flavors are concentrated.

Notes:

• The only thing I'll do differently next time is to line the pan with foil to make clean up easier. The vinegar caramelized and made a mess on the pan. 
• This recipe created a lot of smoke because of the high temperature roasting. Be prepared to crank up the exhaust fan.