Slow Roasted Tomatoes

We've been celebrating the arrival of Autumn and its ingredients over the past few weeks, but here in Cooking District's east coast HQ, we have also been reveling in some intermittently fairly balmy breezes and the sort of slow start to fall that means that apples, pumpkins, and pears are sitting side by side with late summer berries, greens, and tomatoes. Yesterday brought the first snow of the year to local farming communities and the instagram photos from some of our favorite farmers of snow covered strawberries and tomatoes was the push we needed to start preserving the last fruits of summer. These slow roasted tomatoes were the project of the weekend.

Slow roasting tomatoes caramelizes them and makes them even sweeter. And it's a simple, reasonable hands off process. Heat your oven to 400 degrees F. Halve your cherry tomatoes, toss with enough olive oil to coat. Place them on a rimmed cookie sheet or in a roasting tin and sprinkle with sea salt -- go easy though, because the saltiness will intensify as they roast. Sprinkle with any herbs -- we used basil here. Place them in the oven then immediately turn the temperature down to 200 degrees F and let roast for 3 hours.

When they are done you can scoop them up into freezer bags -- they will keep in the freezer for the whole winter.

Or clean and sterilize as many pint jars as you will need and place the cooled tomatoes in jars. Pour olive oil in the jar until the tomatoes are covered by at least an inch or oil. Store jarred tomatoes in the fridge.