Confit means baking something in fat. In this recipe, the tomatoes are not fully submerged in the oil, because I just find it unnecessary. I think it is enough to make sure the bottom of the tray is covered in oil and then just move the tomatoes around halfway through the cooking. Of course, if you feel like splurging, you can always add more olive oil – the oil will be infused with tomato flavor and herbs if you are using them, so you can use it to season salads, pasta, and simple sourdough bread…. So feel free to do this.
Here in Estonia, the summer is slowly arriving, but our tomato season is still a few months away. But even the imported tomatoes already taste better compared to the mid-winter ones that taste like nothing. Actually, because tomato flavor is brought out by baking them for a long time, the recipe would be good to enhance flavorless out-of-season tomatoes too. To bring out even more flavor I recommend keeping the tomatoes on the vine while baking. Please do not eat any tomato leaves or stems as they are not edible but only used to infuse the oil! I love the smell of tomato leaves and wines! Even my favorite perfume reminded me of tomato leaves, but unfortunately, they stopped producing it ☹ So if some of the readers have acquaintances in Nina Ricci, please ask them to bring back the very first edition of Les Belles! 😊
Back to the tomatoes – my favorite way of enjoying them is on top of simple sourdough toast, but they are also wonderful on salads, pasta, and as a side of fish dishes. I will go and have another slice of sourdough now!
Simple Confit Tomatoes
Cooking time: 1 hour 30 min
Ingredients:
2 pounds cherry tomatoes, preferably on vine
1 cup good quality olive oil
Salt
Fresh herbs – oregano, basil, thyme (optional)
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 300F.
If you are using herbs, place them in the bottom of your baking tray so they would infuse the oil, and not burn in the oven.
Place the tomatoes on top of the herbs. Try to stay in one layer, but if some of the tomatoes are on top of the others, this is okay.
Pour the olive oil on top of the tomatoes, season with salt, and mix them with your hands, so every tomato would be covered with oil.
Bake for an hour and a half. Feel free to gently move them around halfway through.
Enjoy warm with pasta or cooled down and preserved in the oil they were baked in on top of sandwiches, salads, or simply as a snack.
By Kadri Raig
Kadri is a food blogger and yoga teacher from Estonia. She loves to spend time in the kitchen, but most of her recipes are simple and don’t take more than 20 minutes of active cooking time. She thinks that everybody can find time to cook healthy food at home, it is just a question of planning. "I work in an office full time, teach yoga 7-8 hours a week and write a blog. So if I manage to cook most of my meals, then so do you!" Connect with Kadri and enjoy many more of her delicious healthy recipes on her website here: www.kahvliga.ee.