TASTE
Roast fresh tomatoes to bring out flavor
| • | Red, white and greens of Italy |
By Jim Romanoff
Associated Press
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While fresh tomatoes are available year-round, they're definitely at their best during summer.
And while it's refreshing to eat the best specimens just as you would an apple, some simple preparations can help you maximize the flavor and nutrition of the season's bounty.
For example, roasting tomatoes at high heat concentrates their flavor and brings out their rich sweetness by caramelizing the natural sugars. This technique also helps to minimize their bitter and acidic qualities.
The result is an intensely savory and sweet tomato with a hearty texture.
And while cooking tomatoes can diminish the potency of the fruit's vitamins, it helps concentrate other nutrients, such as lycopene, a powerful antioxidant studies suggest may be important to heart health.
In this simple recipe, roasted plum tomatoes are topped with garlic, fresh parsley and thyme, but you can use any fresh herb, or even some fresh bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.
These moist and flavorful roasted tomatoes make an excellent side dish on their own, but also have numerous uses, such as:
ROASTED PLUM TOMATOES WITH FRESH HERBS
Preheat oven to 425 F.
Line a large baking sheet with foil. Place the tomatoes on the sheet, cut side up. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 1 hour, or until the tomatoes are shriveled and beginning to brown on the bottom.
Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix the remaining oil, parsley, thyme and garlic. Remove the tomatoes from the oven and sprinkle the herb mixture evenly over the top. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes, or until the herbs are just beginning to brown.
Makes 24 tomato halves.
