A Very Good Side Dish IngredientI love cherry and grape tomatoes. Great little snack full of that wonderful lycopene. But it's also a great ingredient, once roasted, to add to your grilled or roasted asparagus or okra or green beans. The little darlin's are already sweet but can you imagine that burst of sweet flavor once roasted? The roasting allows for some caramelization of the sugars in the tomatoes. I'm fortunate to have a big Wolfe stove with one roasting oven and one extra large oven but it takes a while to crank those puppies up (and we certainly want to be green, don't we, by saving energy?). So, for just a small batch of tomatoes, I use a Delonghi Convection/Toaster Oven. If you want, you could make a large batch and eat throughout the week, but I don't believe they'd have longer than a 3-4 day stay in the frig (Alton Brown could tell you that). So, heat your oven to 425 degrees. Pam a small (I'm only going to roast 1 pint) baking sheet with sides (you want them rolling around in the oven?) Toss the tomatoes with a little olive oil, a clove of garlic, minced, and sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Roast for about 15-20 minutes until the little darlin's have popped and you've got some good charring and caramelization going on. Stir a time or two. You could add fresh basil, capers, and make a bruscetta with grated parmesan on top or use as a topping for baked potatoes or mix in with the veggies I mentioned above. Hint, always keep tomatoes at room temp. They retain their flavor and texture. Very good, very healthy and very sweet!
No comments:
Post a Comment