Check out Episode 6 of the new food podcast,
Chicken 'n Waffles!

the makings of tomato confit: a big pan of kick-ass

So I got a big ass bag of tomatoes from my CSA last week, the last of summer's finest in a wide range of shapes, sizes, colors and varieties. What's a lady to do with a big ass bag of summer tomatoes?

The way I saw it, my only real options were:

*eat a caprese salad at every meal for the next week
*throw them at the cat
*make a pan of kick-ass

Basil makes me gassy and the cat is wicked fast, so really, the decision was already made for me.

Follow up:

I was considering making some oven-dried or semi-dried tomatoes, but then I came across this amazing recipe by David Lebovitz and was sold.

My crap ton of tomatoes

It was a recipe for preserved tomatoes, or confit of tomatoes. This has got to be the easiest, most delicious and versatile pan of food I have ever made. Oh yes. It even beats the great triple decker bacon pizza of 2006. This was serious stuff.

A crap ton of tomatoes, all dressed up with nowhere to go but the oven.

It was also easy as hell to make. Wash your tomatoes, take out the stem with a knife and slice in half. Put cut side down in a pan with olive oil, garlic cloves and a fistful of herbs. Bake until they are soft and look like this:

This is what happens when I rock the shit out of a bag of tomatoes: a dish so delicious, it makes Mexican orphaned kittens with maracas do a dance of joy.

I put the tomatoes on grilled cheese sandwiches, in pasta, and pureed a few to use as pizza sauce. My favorite is taking a piece of warm toast and spreading a tomato on it, along with one of the soft, roasted garlic cloves and a sprinkle of kosher salt. Oh. Ma. Gah.

So freaking delicious.

Now I just need to figure what the hell the do with the rest of this week's massive CSA.

The latest shipment from my kitten CSA.

~LTG!