Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Like I said before… once tomatoes get down to about $1.29 per pound? I go all in. No joke.

For me, a favorite is the oven-roasted tomato. I’d love to have mine sun-dried, but I haven’t quite perfected that method yet and buying them in a jar is far too expensive for my tastes.

So, without further ado… my simple oven roasted tomato!

Take your roma tomatoes, cut them into four pieces, the long way.

See how I’m cutting that tomato? That’s me cutting out the inside tomato goo. You’ll want to do that, too (preferably without nicking your hand.)

You should be left with this:

…but you should also be left with this:

Save those. Repeat this process of gutting out the tomatoes…until you get this:

It’ll also leave you with this:

Remember: save those. But back to this:

Sprinkle a little basil, oregano, and olive oil over the top. Every tomato won’t be coated with olive oil, and that’s ok. Be stingy with it – it’s pricey, anyway. (Told y’all I’m cheap.) Get a pinch of sea salt in your fingers, place it in the palm of your hand. Then try to grab a pinch of your pinch (it should result in you only picking up half of your salt…and don’t cheat, either) and sprinkle it over your tray. Put ’em in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350… and you should get this:

And if you’re like me, and you prefer yours to be so thoroughly roasted that they start turning black on the bottom (no, really – save a few of your tomatoes and try it!)… you get left with this:

How do you store them? You can keep them in a plastic container if necessary… but if you’re like me, and you save any and every old jar… you’ll have one on hand to stick your tomatoes in:

Stick your tomatoes in a jar, push them down so that you can get as many in there as you need, then slowly pour olive oil over the top of the jar.. so that the tomatoes soak in it. It’s that easy!

These tomatoes are versatile – pair them with some pasta, artichokes and parmesan for dinner… or top your salad with them for lunch. Either way… you can get a lot of mileageout of a few tomatoes! Hope you enjoy!