I will be going away for a week and so, I have to clean out my fridge ... at least of perishables that would undoubtedly be at an advanced stage of rot by the time I get back. The last thing I want after a 20 hour flight is to open my icebox for a glass of water and be greeted by slimy tofu or fossilised mushrooms. Eeks.
I had three ingredients that were high on the potential specimen list: a bowlful of cherry tomatoes I bought close to a week back, a block of tofu and bean sprouts. The bean sprouts were easy, I just cooked some noodles for dinner and used them up. Of course, the meal was more bean sprouts with noodles than the other way around but who's complaining.
Tomatoes. Yellow and red, they looked quite lovely all plump and fresh. A pity I had to drastically end their life span (even if only in the cool ice box) this way. Well, if you're gonna go (and I don't mean to sound crude; I really believe this), go in style. I decided to slow roast them to shriveled up perfection and eat them as a snack while I watch Letterman on TV tonight.
It's the easiest thing to do but it sure takes a heck of a long time. All you gotta do is wash the tomatoes, half them, lightly cover them with extra virgin olive and season them with salt and herbs. I only had dried herbs so I made so with dried Italian herbs. Lay them out on a tray (skin side down) and bake at 110 C for 3-4 hours. Yes, that long. In fact, some take their slow roasting extremely seriously and bake those red fellas for 8 to 10 hours.
[caption id="attachment_838" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="After 2.5 hours."]
[/caption]Good things come to those who wait. I decided to slow roast a batch for 2.5 hours and another for 4. Just to taste the difference. They both taste great but the flavour of the second batch (the 4 hour cookers) were much more intense even though there was hardly any juice.
I decided not to snack of these gorgeous tomatoes. Instead, I am going to make myself a bowl of tomato soup tonight! With the storms we've been having, it should be just the thing to have.
Now I only have to worry about the tofu.
For more recipes on slow roasted tomatoes, check out http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/08/slow-roasted-tomatoes/
or http://www.cooksister.com/2007/09/slow-roasted-to.html
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