Day 77 - Roasted Romas ♥

2014 UPDATE: After a long while, I re-visited roasting Roma tomatoes and found them quite wonderful! Please see Roasted Roma Tomatoes, they’re what’s pictured on the right. Roasting is a great way to turn so-so supermarket tomatoes into something special.

2005: Perfect, I thought. The recipe from a mailbox-fresh issue of Bon Appetit called for roasting roma tomatoes, then stuffing them with mozzarella balls, pesto, goat cheese – my plan was to use a cream cheese and wasabi mix with a little diced cucumber and shrimp. The tomatoes turned out great, even though I'd use far less oil another time. But they were so soft, so wobbly, there was no stuffing them with anything, let alone being able to pick them up to eat. So just know this, roasted tomatoes are good, just expect to serve them on the side.

RECIPE for ROASTED ROMAS

Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Time to table: 90 minutes
Serves 8

Non-stick cooking spray
12 roma tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt & pepper
Chopped chive

Heat oven to 400F. Spray a rimmed baking dish with cooking spray.

Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise. Use a grapefruit knife or small knife (serrated may work best) to remove the core and seeds. Arrange cut side up on the baking dish. Brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 50 - 60 minutes or until tender and just slightly charred. Cool on the baking sheet, tilted to let excess oil drain away. Serve sprinkled with chive (or other herb).

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
The recipe called for 1/4 cup of olive oil. For once, I didn't cut the oil because my experience with roasting vegetables is that more oil is better than less. For these tomatoes, however, a whole quarter cup left the tomatoes dripping in unappetizing oil. After they roasted, I could literally pour oil from each tomato half – and did. And then I tilted the tray and a huge pool collected at the bottom.
Tomatoes may be tender enough that even misting with oil would be plenty – it's certainly worth a try.



A Veggie Venture is home of 'veggie evangelist' Alanna Kellogg and the
famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.
© Copyright Kitchen Parade 2005, 2014



Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

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