Nancy Silverton, chef-restaurateur and cookbook author, slow-roasts tomatoes to perfection. She uses small, on-the-vine tomatoes and slow roasts the colorful orbs slathered with extra-virgin olive oil. Their skins shrivel but the tomatoes remain plump.
There are myriad ways to serve them. Once cooled, the room-temp, stem-on tomatoes can sit atop a generous mound of rich fresh burrata cheese that is graced with coarse salt and a smidgen of basil pesto.
I also like to serve them atop cooked store-bought ravioli that has been tossed with olive oil or lemon olive oil and minced fresh herbs (such as basil and parsley), seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper. I garnish the dish with slivers of pitted kalamata olives.
Yield: About 36 tomatoes
16 ounces small vine-on tomatoes, such as Campari tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes, preferably on the stems; see cook’s notes
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cook’s notes: The Campari brand tomatoes on the stem are bigger than a cherry tomato, but smaller than a small standard tomato; I buy them at my local Albertson’s supermarket. Sometimes there are cherry tomatoes sold with the stems intact. I grow cherry tomatoes that I plant in May; they provide me with stem-on tomatoes all summer long.
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- Place a wire rack on top of a baking sheet. Gently lift tomatoes out of boxes, taking care to keep tomatoes attached to stems as much as possible and place on rack. Brush tomatoes with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in preheated oven until skins are shriveled but tomatoes are still plump, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Remove tomatoes from oven and allow them to cool to room temperature. Use tomatoes, or cover with plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to one day or refrigerate up to three days. Bring tomatoes to room temperature before serving.
Source: “The Mozza Cookbook” by Nancy Silverston with Matt Molina and Carolynn Carreno (Knopf, $35)
Award-winning food writer Cathy Thomas has written three cookbooks, including “50 Best Plants on the Planet.” Follow her at @CathyThomas Cooks.com.