Roast Your Tomatoes for Concentrated Flavor

This is a technique I use frequently. It's a great way to really concentrate the flavor of a tomato and is super easy to do. The trick is to use the right amount of tomatoes for the size pan you have: too many, and you steam/poach them more than roast them and too few and the juices will start burning and smoking before the tomatoes are fully sweet and roasty.

Roasted tomatoes were an ingredient in some delicious pork-stuffed spaghetti squash I made in the 2021 season.

The basic idea to to cut tomatoes how you like them (I go for 3/4 inch slices or fat wedges but you can also do a fat dice) and spread them in a sheet pan with a rim. Coat with olive oil and salt, and if you like, some herbs and roast in a 400 degree oven until done. This varies based on home many you're doing at once and how you cut them.

You can also add other items to the same sheet pan and roast them together if you like! Sliced onions or garlic are obvious, but other things work as well. I diced some green beans from my mom's garden and added them halfway through (pictured below). Sometimes I like to eat them just on their own with bread and cheese!

Uses for roasted tomatoes:
Include in a pan sauce for skillet pork chops (recipe on FB or Insta)
Use as a pizza topping
Make a simple lunch by topping bread with goat cheese and roasted tomatoes (pictured)
Use in a simple sausage-and-veggie casserole — check out the blog post for that here.
Make a tomato pie by layering the tomato slices into blind-baked piecrust with various dairy products like sour cream, cheddar, mayo, etc.
Top polenta with roast tomatoes and other veggies or meatballs, like Kelly did with her Monday night meatballs below.
Have them as a side dish at breakfast a-la a "full English"