Slow Roasted Autumn Tomatoes
I feel a sense of urgency as the warm days fade, a compulsion to enjoy as many sweet autumn tomatoes that I can before the weather chills. I find ways to include late season’s flavoursome tomato into my three daily meals. Sliced tomatoes with a drizzle of olive oil on toast for breakfast, wedges of tomato on top of smashed avocado at lunchtime and tomatoes every which way for dinner.
A friend gifted me 5kg of luscious ripe Roma tomatoes last week. I slowly roasted them in the oven to intensify their delicious flavour. Using some of the tomatoes as they cooled, we enjoyed a delicious warm salad of oven roasted tomatoes lightly seasoned with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, a sprinkling of sugar, fresh lemon thyme, Meyer lemon zest and Parmesan oil.
Just like the remnants of the warm weather our tasty tomatoes will soon be gone.
This is how I oven roast tomatoes, not so much a recipe as a technique. Roast just what you need for now, or make a large batch and squirrel some away to enjoy over winter.
Pre heat the oven to 120C
Cut the tomatoes into quarters lengthwise and using a sharp knife cut out the core taking the seeds with it. Set the trimmings aside to add to another dish.
Essentially, you will end up with 4 crescents per tomato of skin and the layer of flesh attached.
Place a wire rack over a baking tray and lay the tomatoes, cut side up in a single layer.
Lightly sprinkle with sea salt. This will help the juices come to the surface and aid dehydration.
Place to tomatoes in the oven for 2-3 hours. The house will fill with an intense aroma as the tomatoes dehydrate and although the tomatoes will be shrivelled, the flesh should remain quite moist. Do not allow the tomatoes to brown.
At this stage the tomatoes can be seasoned with herbs and served as a hot side dish, or they can be left to cool, packed into sterilized jars along with slices of garlic and fresh herbs. Fill the jars with good olive oil and store in the fridge.
To sterilize jars, place freshly washed jars in the oven for 1/2 hour at 120C. Bring the lids to the boil in a saucepan of water. Boil for 5 minutes.
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12 comments on “Slow Roasted Autumn Tomatoes”
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Please Pass the Recipe by Sandra Gay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Please Pass the Recipe 
Wonderful photo, Sandra. I could almost taste the sweet and sourness of your roasted tomatoes!
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Thanks Dolly…
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5 kilos of Roma tomatoes? Now that’s a good friend. For me, knowing that I’ve picked the last of a season’s tomatoes is a bitter pill to swallow. Though I’m not too pleased knowing that some pretty cold weather is coming, the thought of going tomato-less for months is by far worse. This year, I’ll try your slow roasting. It sounds like a great way to extend Summer just a bit.
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It’s warm enough somewhere in Australia to guarantee that we able to buy good tomatoes year round, but none as sweet as in the late summer. Enjoy!
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Great post! I make oven dried tomatoes in a very similar way. Unfortunately we only have tomatoes suitable for this for a few weeks each summer. They don’t keep long in the fridge and don’t freeze. Great idea to keep them in a jar! Storebought dried tomatoes have too much vinegar 😦
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Thanks Stefan, the tomatoes are still so delicious, best in years, I feel like a squirrel stashing them away to use when all we can buy is tasteless red bullets
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This is a wonderful way to preserve tomatoes! The real revelation (for me, at least) was your link on how to make Parmesan oil. I usually freeze the rinds and use them in soups, but this is another great way to extract the last bit of the lovely Parmesan flavour. Thanks!!!
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I love all the little tips and tricks I learn from other bloggers, so glad I could return the gesture. The Parmesan oil is fabulous of tomatoes, fresh or roasted. I always have a jar of it in the kitchen.
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The only safe time to get stuck into your recipes is after dinner. About those lids. If you are boiling them do you wait until they are dry before sealing jar.
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Thanks! Drain the lids as you start to fill the jars, they’ll have dried in the residual heat by the time you are finished. If you use a tea towel, you defeat the purpose of having boiled them.
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Yum! Another amazing looking dish (ps…if you need to warm up, just head out way….still over 25c most days 🙂 ) xxx
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Thanks Leah, we’ll visit again soon, but not for the weather😉. It’s been 70% humidity here today, almost impossible to function! Xxx
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