I have a butt load of cherry tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes that are no longer at their peak, they seems to be making a turn for the worse. Actually I am getting tired of them, I am longing for something larger than a cherry or grape size tomato. So, what to do?
I think that a good roast might be in order. So I took them and tossed them onto a baking sheet with chunks of garlic, thyme, oregano, coarse sea salt and some fresh cracked pepper. Oh yah, the olive oil, shame on me for forgetting. That might be the most important ingredient.
The larger ones where sliced in half, the smaller ones I kept whole. They roasted in a 220F oven for a few hours.
This is what they looked like when they were finished. Shriveled and juicy. I did not dry them too much, just enough for the garlic and tomatoes to get a little crispy.
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The house smells wonderful now. The tomatoes have such a wonderful concentrated flavor.
Time to boil the pasta.
So that is what I did, linguine, the pasta not the chef, boiling away. I dropped a bunch of the whole tomatoes into the blender with a little anchovy paste, tomato paste, salt, chili flakes, fresh oregano and some olive oil and whizzed away. It was lovely. I found some leftover breakfast sausage in the fridge for the meat eaters and tossed it into a pan to heat up, added the tomato sauce. A minute later when the pasta was ready I tossed it all together, tossed a few of the halved ones on top. All I had to do now was throw the salad on the table and we tucked in. A chunk of Pecorino Romano (sheep’s milk cheese) was on the table with a fine grater and next thing I knew the pasta bowl was empty. It was yummy!
If you have some not so prime looking tomatoes, give this a try.
