roasted tomatoes and herbs
October 2, 2013 § 54 Comments
We are finally enjoying red, ripe and juicy roma tomatoes from the garden. I am still so puzzled as to why my tomatoes have taken so long when friends of mine living in the same city are at least 30 days on the other side of their harvest. All I can say is I am happy to have them!
And still more to come!
I have been wanting to slow roast tomatoes for weeks and after bringing in a dozen or so roma’s I knew exactly what I was going to do. No doubt these were going to be good, however, after the first bite I was completely smitten. I had to stop myself because I was going to finish off the whole lot and never mention a word to my family I had roasted them. The aroma in the house was a dead give away and coming to my senses I knew I had to share.
Crispy sage is such a lovely delicacy. I added several large sage leaves to the roasting pan, along with thyme, greek basil and thinly sliced garlic. We enjoyed the tomatoes alone as a side, however, I can imagine how perfect they would be tossed in spaghetti. Of course I thought that, how many pasta recipes can one blog have? I’m up to 18 and I have only had this blog for 7 months!
I n g r e d i e n t s
- 6 or 7 tomatoes, sliced in half
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- several whole sage leaves
- 4 or 5 sprigs of fresh thyme
- large sprig of basil, chopped
- 3 or 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- sea salt
M e t h o d
Preheat oven 325°F. Drizzle olive oil onto parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle the herbs about and toss around with a spatula. Add the sliced tomatoes and garlic and continue to toss around until well coated. Evenly space the tomatoes about the pan, cut side down, sprinkle with salt and roast for one hour.
COTTAGE GROVE HOUSE 
Lovely! How lucky to have a garden and to be growing your own tomatoes! And what a nice way of eating them. I love the idea of adding sage to the roasting pan… I am imagining the heavenly smell in your kitchen…
I had to roast some more the next day…just because I wanted the incredible aroma in the kitchen again! These truly are well worth purchasing a dozen roma’s (or any tomato) and a handful of sage. All those green tomatoes in the first photograph will most likely stay green…no sun in the forecast….just rain, rain, rain! :)
YAY! You used sage. This week the students have been focusing on the foods of Italy. My chef partner is half Italian. He’s been talking about all his time there and how much Italians love their sage. It just makes me happy that the traditional turkey stuffing herb is being used for other items. Thank you for reminding others how wonderful it can be with other items.
That is so funny! The “turkey stuffing herb”, It’s true, I remember that being the only thing to do with it as far as my mom was concern. She would buy it in the little shillings tin. :)
My sort of food – delicious.
Mine too! :) Over the top.
You are so lucky to still have tomatoes growing in your area. Too hot here and the season is long gone. Roasting give tomatoes such great flavor.
First time I actually roasted tomatoes and I love them. So flavorful and I can not wait to make a pasta sauce with them too.
Yummie! And what a good idea to put baking paper under it.
Thanks Rosa! I have ruined so many baking pans so now I use the paper all the time. :)
Ah, forgot to say that the ‘lazy late’ ;) tomatoes look really gordeous, so well formed!
Thanks! They are indeed very lazy and taking their sweet time.
They are beautiful and I know so worth the wait, love roasting tomatoes and the herbs make them even more delicious. Would make a great sauce too!
So true Suzanne. I am going to make a sauce with them next time. I just need to have a good amount to ripen now! Haven’t seen much of the sun in over a week.
oooo–I have tomato envy! We grow them as well, but have no where near your harvest. What are your gardening secrets? Your side dish looks so fragrant…. Nice!
I don’t have secret. :) This year’s tomato crop is a complete mystery to me. The plants are heavy with green tomatoes, yet taking their sweet time ripening. Oh so good roasted for sure!
Mmmmm my favourite thing, delicious aromas, sweet rich flavours. I generally halve the tomatoes before slow roasting. The flavour becomes concentrated and rich. I’ll be right over for some green tomatoes to make pickle.
Oh my goodness I wish I could share some green tomatoes with you. I’ll have to start looking into making pickles with them because I don’t think they will have a chance to turn red before the temps drop too much. I see the tomatoes do not look halved in the photos, however, that is what I did before roasting. I put the cut side down. They were so delicious!
So envious of you reaping those toms! Actually, the only ones I ever grew were cherry. Wow, they tasted so good.
– Sage is great with butter beans, giving them a beefed-up flavour (or so I’ve read). Works for me :) One of my favourite herbs.
– Nice new basal growth on my Greek style basil, btw.
Oh good! re: the basil. Seems like the leaves on mine are getting smaller and smaller. Still intensely fragrant though. I’ve heard of butter beans and sage together too, I know I would love those two together. Always nice to hear from you. :)
oH YUM! This sounds delicious. I can’t wait for my tomato plants to grow so that we can start getting fruit. And like lady red specs said, there is always green tomato pickles if you can’t wait for that abundant crop to ripen to eat :-)
Going to have to do some green tomato pickle research. Never made them and it is starting to sound like plan b. Thanks! :)
They are devine. Check out Please Pass The Recipe or here’s mine. I’m pretty sure they’ll be the same as its the “family” recipe and a pretty coveted one!
http://sharingthefoodwelove.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/my-nans-green-tomato-pickles/
Here’s a recipe for green tomato pasta sauce too for you to add to your pasta collection :-)
http://sharingthefoodwelove.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/mediterranean-flavoured-green-tomato-pasta-sauce/
Happy Cooking, Leah
You are so kind! Thank you for the links. I took a look and yes, great ideas. Bookmarked. I’ll let you know how it goes. :)
yay! would love to hear what you think. Enjoy your homegrown garden bounty
Yum! Your simple dish looks very tasty. I love roma tomatoes! I had trouble growing them this year too. I planted them in large pots where they sat on my patio all summer… I even fertilized them. A lot of them grew, but were very small. They more like large grape tomatoes. Though, I was able to use them in a variety of dishes and eat them just by themselves.
Odd. Very odd season for tomatoes. In the past they all behaved like clockwork, this year not the case. It’s October and I’m still harvesting cherry tomatoes…here in the Pacific Northwest! Thank you for stopping in and your comment. :)
These look lovely! I love roasted tomatoes with Mac and cheese.
Oh, that sounds really good. I can imagine!
Tempting aromas, rich tomatoes and herbaceous smelling properties in a dish are my favorite things in food. The dish looks robust. YOu are tempting me with this for breakfast!
Thank you for your kind comment. You have a very nice blog! Love your Marcella tribute. :) Thanks for stopping by.
Thank you. I look forward to reading more from you as well.
Cheers
Mo
These look amazing!! I live in the city so don’t have much “gardening opportunities” but it’s one of the things that I’m looking forward to once I can move out and have a proper yard. This helps inspire me :)
Thank you and I just visited your blog. It’s wonderful. I look forward to reading more!
Adding sage to your roasted tomatoes sounds wonderful. It is very interesting that it has taken so long to ripen. Are they planted where they get six to eight hours of sun each day?
Great question! We did move our beds this season but I made sure the new area had ample sun exposure. I had to “prune” the plants twice because there were so many leaves hiding the tomatoes from the sun. I’m curious if the soil I used was too much for tomato plants. I’ll have to investigate the soil components before using again next season. Too much science for me. Plain and simple…I just want tomatoes! :)
I know what you mean. I think that is what we all want…great tasting tomatoes without worrying about the science behind growing them. Let’s hope we have a good and abundant season next year. :)
You certainly do have plenty of tomatoes still on the vine! I hope the weather holds so that they ripen on the vine for you. Although I’ve roasted cherry tomatoes frequently, I’ve never used my plums in the same way, nor have I included sage. This sounds wonderful and I hope my plants will yield a few more tomatoes so that I can give it a try.
Thank you John. :) I’m feeling a little less optimistic as our temperatures keep dropping, especially overnight. I have some very good ideas presented to me as to how to use green tomatoes though! I’m excited to try them. Especially pickled green tomatoes! Hope you give the a try. The aroma’s while roasting are so luscious! You’ll love it.
Looks very very tasty! Yum! :D
Oh YUM! These look gorgeous and I love your idea of tossing in some fresh sage. I tend to go for the typical basil/tomato combo but I can imagine sage would be a beautiful accompaniment. Lucky you growing your own – I’ve tried to on a number of occasions but we have a family of marauding possums in the the neighborhood who decimate anything even remotely edible :(
I use basil far too often, especially with tomatoes. I am reaching a basil threshold these days. Even preferring parsley pesto over basil. Those darn possums! We do have raccoons but they don’t seem to enjoy the tomatoes… thank goodness!
This is what I also did with my whole bunch of home grown red cherry tomatoes! I also love sage & thyme together!
You should try using lemon thyme instead of the normal one for added lemony deliciousness! ;) x
I’ll do it! I have lemon thyme thriving next to my “regular” thyme. Sounds great. I love roasted cherry tomatoes too! Don’t you just love the smell of roasting tomatoes? Especially with the herbs and garlic too.
Yes, yes. X
So glad your tomatoes are finally ripening. Mine too. This is the first year they’ve been this late and I think it was the long wet spring we had that slowed things down. But, as they say, better late than never. And I’m just so happy that we haven’t had frost yet…
Your oven roasted tomatoes and sage sound and look wonderful. ;)
Finally! I agree with you. The long wet spring really slowed down the harvest. I may be left with tons of green ones though. The overnight chill is going to force me to bring them in. I’m excited to try pickling some green tomatoes though. Enjoy your week!
You can never have too many pasta recipes! (and I’m a little jealous. our tomatoes are just about done)
Thank you. I could just blog about pasta only! I roasted another batch of these yesterday and served them with breakfast. This truly is a wonderful way to enjoy tomatoes.
Your tomatoes look beautiful! I think I will be making roast tomatoes tonight…thanks for the inspiration!
I hope you made them! I roasted my third batch in a week yesterday and served them with breakfast. They were fabulous!
Tonight I’m making them for supper…they are smelling delicious!
That’s what I love about this too! The aroma. I got up early Sunday morning and put some in the oven…for breakfast and the house smelled so good for hours! Hope you loved them. :)
Yes, we loved them! They tasted as good as they smelled :)