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Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Oven-Cleaning Tomatoes

Belated Christmas greetings! This year, my brother and I helped out with the Su family Christmas feast. He made the turkey (recipe courtesy Barefoot Contessa), which developed a glorious golden crust.

I made cornbread stuffing (recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse), but the highlight had to be the roasted tomatoes (recipe adapted from Mario Batali). The tomatoes can be eaten plain, paired with pasta/crusty bread/crackers, or smashed for an extra chunky and flavorful pasta sauce.

I took four vine-ripened tomatoes and cut them in thirds lengthwise.
Then I tossed them with one tablespoon of olive oil, five sprigs of fresh thyme, and a pinch of salt and pepper.
I placed them in a non-reactive dish (such as glass--aluminum will react adversely with the tomato acid) and baked for two hours at 300F.

After patiently waiting, your tomatoes should shrink down, and the flavors will concentrate. Unless of course, your oven thermostat is broken. In which case, they'll come out looking like this:

Mmmm, let's get a close-up, shall we?

Wow, it looks like these tomatoes came out of Chernobyl.

Because the thermostat was broken, the oven kept heating beyond 300F, to broiling, and then to the self-clean cycle. It got so hot that all the stuck-on grease in the oven obliterated and the tomatoes turned to ashes. I lovingly call this recipe "Oven-cleaning tomatoes." Char some tomatoes and clean your oven, all at the same time!

posted by Jessica at 8:59 PM | 0 comments

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