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Story highlights
Great tomatoes have a really short season
Still, too many can show up at once and they're a shame to waste
Extend the season by oven-roasting them and preserving them in olive oil
They can also be frozen, minus the oil, for up to three months
Fresh summer produce can’t be beat, but if you have a robust garden or a particularly generous CSA arrangement, sometimes the amount of vegetables you’re saddled with can get overwhelming. Fortunately, one of our editors, Scott Kathan, came up with a DIY recipe for using up an abundance of tomatoes.
These oven-roasted tomatoes have countless uses: They make a great addition to antipasti plates, sandwiches, soups, pizzas, and stews, and can be chopped fine and added to mayonnaise as a dip for crudité and crackers. That is, if you can stop yourself from simply eating them plain; they’re what Scott describes as “savory, tender little umami bombs.”
America’s Test Kitchen: Panzanella
Oven-Roasted Tomatoes
Ingredients
4 pounds ripe globe or plum tomatoes
1 1/2 cups extra-virgin olive oil
4 medium garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon dried herbs de Provence
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
America’s Test Kitchen: Our Favorite Rimmed Baking Sheet
Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 425 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove and discard tomato cores. Slice tomatoes in half through core and place, cut-side up, on prepared baking sheets. Drizzle 1/2 cup of oil evenly over tomatoes, and season with garlic, herbs de Provence, salt, and pepper. Flip tomatoes cut-side down, transfer to oven, and bake until skins have loosened, about 30 minutes.
America’s Test Kitchen: Summer Tomato Pie
2. Remove tomatoes from oven and reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. Pour off any liquid in bottom of pan into medium bowl. Using tongs, carefully remove and discard tomato skins. Return tomatoes to oven for 30 minutes.
America’s Test Kitchen: Tomato Butter
3. Remove tomatoes from oven and pour off any liquid into bowl. Using tongs, carefully flip each tomato half and return to oven until tomatoes are visibly shrunken, dry, and slightly dark around edges, 2 to 2 1/2 hours, pouring off liquid as necessary every 30 minutes.
America’s Test Kitchen: Tomato Jam
4. Transfer baking sheets to wire rack, and allow tomatoes to cool to room temperature. Transfer tomatoes to clean bowl and cover completely with remaining olive oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 4 weeks. (If freezing tomatoes, do not cover with oil; transfer to zipper-lock freezer bags and freeze for up to 3 months.) Reserve tomato liquid for another use.