If there’s one ingredient I’m obsessed about it’s roasted cherry tomatoes. You must’ve noticed by now that I use them pretty often and it’s because they are really really good and make an excellent job at decorating our dishes. They’re extremely easy to make and last long, specially if you keep them in olive oil.
When you pick your cherry tomatoes it’s best if they’re nice and red. This means that they were given a longer time in the vine before picking and so they’re sweeter. Of course if you buy different species of cherry tomatoes and colours it’s perfect as well.
To make these cherry tomatoes all you have to do is put them on an oven tray lined with baking paper (they can stick) and drizzle them wit ha nice amount of olive oil. Don’t put too little because it gives them lots of flavour. Then they go into a preheated oven at 180C for 20-30min depending on the strength of your oven. You know they’re ready when the skin breaks and becomes a bit golden.
Along with them you can have on the tray a couple of crushed garlic cloves and herbs and in the oven they start taking each other’s flavours and aromas. The herbs that go best with tomatoes are bayleaf and thyme but of course you can add you favourite and see how it goes 🙂
Once out of the oven you can eat them straight away or keep them in the fridge for up to 4 days. What I do have to say is DON’T throw away the oil and juices that are left on the tray. They’re incredibly delicious and it’s good to make salad dressings with that lovely intense tomato flavour.
I didn’t remove the little leaf on top because I LOVE how they look and it’s really not common to find them like that in Santiago. Of course if you prefer you can remove them before roasting although it’s not hard at all to do it afterwards.
Here are a few things you can use them for:
- Bruschettas
- Saladas
- Caprese pasta (with mozzarella cheese, these tomatoes and basil)
- Caprese salad
- Sadwiches
- Wraps
- Quiches
- Flatbreads
If you can’t eat them straight away but you had to roast them now or they would rot then you can keep them in olive oil! They keep up to a week but make sure that the oil covers them completely. The olive oil will go hard in the fridge but it will come back to liquid after being 5min outside the fridge.
Along with the olive oil I added to garlic cloves and thyme but these fresh ingredients you have to pick out after 5 days because they don’t keep as long as the cooked tomatoes. Also remember that this olive oil will have tons of flavour in it so take care of it! You can use it for your appetizers (a bit for your olives or to toast baguettes in the oven) and even to put into your salad dressings.
