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It seems that my tomato plants have sensed that fall is just around the corner and, in a last rush before the first frost hits, they are producing like crazy.
I’ve been using them in salads, on sandwiches, and in everything else I can think of. The problem is that I need to use up a LOT at one time. I have mostly cherry tomatoes because we love them, but it can be hard to find recipes that use them instead of the big ones.
Then, an online friend shared a picture of Tomato Confit. Doesn’t that sound fancy?
I usually ignore any recipe with a French-sounding name, not because I dislike French food, but because their recipes are complicated and tend to dirty every pan in my kitchen! Her confit looked delicious though, so I researched some recipes, did my usual tweaking and came up with this EASY version of tomato confit. Bonus: it uses up lots of little tomatoes!
TOMATO CONFIT RECIPE
Ingredients:
- Approximately 2 pints of cherry tomatoes (or enough to fill the bottom of a 9 x13” pan)
- ¾ cup olive oil
- 1 bulb of garlic
- 2 – 4 Tablespoons of basil pesto OR 8 basil leaves
- Salt and pepper
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a 13 x 9” pan (or a sheet pan with sides), lay down cherry tomatoes in a single layer (no need to cut them). Cut the garlic bulb in half horizontally and lay it in the pan too. I dolloped basil pesto around, but if you have a basil plant, just sprinkle some leaves over the top. Pour enough olive oil in the pan to cover the bottom and come up the sides of the tomatoes a bit (it was ¾ of a cup for me). Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake for one hour at 300 degrees.
Voila! Tomato Confit.
WAYS TO USE TOMATO CONFIT
We toasted French bread, covered it with soft cheese or hummus, spooned the tomatoes on, and squished some of the garlic out on top. So yummy!
Later, we cooked up pasta, tossed it with some of the confit and sprinkled on Parmesan cheese.
Any leftover oil (which is now basically a wonderful garlic oil) can be stored in the fridge and used in whatever way you choose.
This recipe was the gift that kept on giving. There are so many ways to use Confit. I wish I’d made it sooner.
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Kid-Approved Creamy Tomato-Feta Pasta (with Easy Video Demo)
