oven roasted tomatoes

To all you weirdcombos folks out there in Internet-land, news flash: good tasting tomatoes, as well as many other flavorful Summer crops, are beginning to disappear for the season. Time to get shopping! It is going to be a few months before good root veggies get to the farmers markets. Fortunately the tomatoes are still here while we wait.

With the changing of the seasons and the beginning of Fall, we closed all of our windows and doors as temperatures dropped into the 40’s. Steven said, “It does feel like Fall now.” And it does. The chill weather made these luscious oven roasted tomatoes with their invitingly warm smells of summertime wafting from the kitchen all the more marvelous.

I purchased lots of tomatoes that day at the Farmers Market. I used some for my roasted tomato navy bean soup, Steven made some into fresh tomato basil pasta and the rest became this simple and elegant side dish:

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Ingredients:

15 ripe tomatoes
Sprinkles of kosher salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
Fresh black pepper to taste

How to:

Wash tomatoes, remove tops and cut in halves. Place in a bowl. Toss in remaining ingredients. Place tomato halves on a shallow baking sheet, cut side up, and bake at 200/220F for 2 to 3 hours or till halves have shrunk to 2/3 to ½ of original size. Serve warm or at room temperature as a side dish, on sandwiches, salads or even as a snack by itself. Delicious!