Roasted Tomatoes

These are my new obsession. This is coming from someone who CAN'T STAND a fresh tomato. Something magical and wonderful happens in the oven. Now, these were my second batch and I got them a bit too done. You will expect some blackness around the edges, but not this much. They were still tasty though. Here's how it's done:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Slice tomatoes in half (small tomatoes and Roma tomatoes like the ones pictured), quarters (for regular garden tomatoes and bigger tomatoes) or leave whole for cherry tomatoes

Place tomatoes skin side down on a baking sheet (I lined mine with foil for easy clean up).

Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and chopped garlic (be generous with the garlic). Drizzle with olive oil once more for good measure.

Put 'em in the oven and leave them alone for an hour (cherry tomatoes and tiny tomatoes) or 2 hours (for Romas and larger tomatoes). I've read where they can be left for up to 2 1/2 hours. Mine got too done when I did this. I liked them better when I took them out at 2 hours.

What do you do with them? Well, you could just eat them as is. I like to chop them and stir them into pasta with a bit of olive oil and basil. OR you can make a sauce with them. Here's an easy one I did:

2 roasted tomatoes (these would be bigger ones that I had quartered, so 8 roasted quarters)
1 small can tomato sauce
a few dashes of italian seasoning
a dash of basil
(season to taste)
I put this in my tiny food chopper/food processor or you could use a blender.
Heat and mix with pasta. Mine made enough for about 3-4 servings of pasta.

Enjoy!!