Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Roots and Shoots Farm has beautiful saucing tomatoes. These came from the Westboro location of the Ottawa Farmers' Market. (It runs from 9:30 to 3 every Saturday until October 27.)

I washed them right away and left them out on a tea towel to fully ripen.

One of my favourite ways to preserve a saucing tomato is to roast it. The beautiful fruit can keep for months in the freezer, laid out in a well sealed, zip-lock bag.

The hardest part of this job is finding a break in the hot weather where putting on the oven does not seem like a violation to our home's comfort.

I roasted these tomatoes in a 250ºF oven for 3 3/4 hours. They were cut in half lengthwise and put cut side up on a parchment lined baking sheet. I like to drizzle them with a bit of olive oil and then season them lightly with salt and freshly ground pepper.



I will roast garlic cloves at the same time to be energy efficient. The roasted cloves store well in the refrigerator. Keep the peeled cloves in a small jar covered in olive oil. This time I took two of my Roots and Shoots Farm garlic heads and put the cloves among the tomatoes.



Our roasted tomatoes are a popular condiment on our open-faced sandwiches.



This snack starts with a slice of lightly toasted onion bread from The Crusty Baker in Kemptville. It is covered in a smear of freshly roasted garlic, which is then covered with a thin blanket of Clarmell Farms creamy chèvre cheese. The roasted tomatoes sit on top of avocado slices. The garnish includes a thin chip of a Parmesan crisp, homemade basil pesto and a young pea shoot from Butterfly Sky Farms.

I love using the roasted tomatoes in pasta dishes too. So easy when all I have to do is pull them from the freezer!

Will you be preserving tomatoes this Fall?

Modern Day Smørrebrød - Chèvre, Avocado, Oven-Roasted Tomatoes

The Danes are well-known for their open-faced sandwiches (smørrebrød). There are many tried and true recipes that have been handed down through the generations. Preserving these recipes is an important part of our culinary heritage. My food friend, Marcus, is doing a superb job of that on his food blog, Danish Open Sandwiches (Smørrebrød).

The underlying principle of smørrebrød is to provide a healthy meal, using the local delights on hand from the fridge and pantry, and allow the flavours to stand out boldly but to also complement each other. Bread is minimized and serves as the canvas. (The traditional bread used is rye bread.) Danes also take great pride in making their smørrebrød visually pleasing and much fuss is made of food styling. It is healthy, flexible, affordable and food life cycle friendly.

As is the Danish custom, smørrebrød is eaten with a knife and fork. It is considered a civilized way to approach the meal but it is also very practical as some smørrebrød can be vertically challenging.

The choices in our fridge and pantry in the 21st century, especially here in Canada, is so much more culturally diverse. It makes the possibilities endless for the modern day smørrebrød. Maybe even more favourful! (Some of the foods on today's lunch are more associated with Jewish, French, Mexican and Italian kitchens.)

Today's smørrebrød lunch was made using:

• half of a sesame bagel from the Ottawa Bagelshop, toasted
• chèvre from Clarmell on the Rideau, a nice spread to cover the bagel all the way to the edges (a smørrebrød rule)
• arugula
• avocado slices
• oven-roasted tomatoes
• salt & pepper
• sprinkling of chives

If I had pesto on hand, I would have put a smear on the goat cheese or a few dollops on the tomatoes.

The best smørrebrød shops in Copenhagen, like Ida Davidsen, have a two week wait to get a reservation.

My dream for the Ottawa restaurant scene would be to have an adventurous and creative chef embrace smørrebrød and begin Ottawa's Smørrebrød Revolution.

And please don't take as long to open as Aamanns in NYC. It has been 'opening soon' since last October. I'm still waiting...

LUNCH: Working the Leftovers

Deep freezer diving uncovered a small portion of pea soup made late April. And no surprise, also a wedge of Art-is-in Boulangerie's Dynamite Cheddar, Chive & Jalapeño Baguette.

Clarmell On The Rideau - Chèvre Goat Cheese is nearing the end.

Fresh heirloom tomatoes are abound.

The homemade pesto still lives on.

Now, time for lunch for me and the mister.

LUNCH: Art-is-in Bread, Clarmell Chèvre Cheese, Quebec Tomato, and Homemade Pesto

Today's lunch drew on local and market ingredients.

Art-is-in Boulangerie's Dynamite Potato, Caramelized Onion & Fresh Dill Bread

• The Dynamite Potato, Caramelized Onion and Fresh Dill bread was bought fresh today at Art-is-in Boulangerie. I cut the 2 foot loaf into eight 3" wedges, ready to be put in the freezer. (When I use a wedge, I thaw it, cut it in half, and usually toast it.) Today's sandwich bread was toasted first.
  

Clarmell On The Rideau - Chèvre Goat Cheese

• Bought from The Piggy Market in Westboro, Clarmell Farm's chèvre goes for $29/kg. It may seem dear but the taste is pure gold. The cheese is produced at the Glengarry Fine Cheese Factory in Lancaster, Ontario using a 100% goats milk from the Mussell family's farm. Many think this is the finest chèvre for miles around, including Savvy Company! I can easily agree. I have also seen Clarmell cheese down in the Byward Market at the stall for Bekings Poultry Farm. It is also available at the Ottawa Farmers' Market at Lansdowne.
  

Farm grown tomatoes from Quebec

• We were at the Jean-Talon Market in Montreal on Sunday. It is said that it is frequented more by the residence of Montreal than tourists, so prices are reasonable. There were many stalls of beautiful fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers. We picked up some tomatoes grown in Quebec. They have been so enjoyable as they are ripe and full-flavoured. The 4 good-sized tomatoes were $2.

Homemade Pesto

• I picked up a large bunch (weighed 12.5 ounces!) of fresh basil while at the Jean-Talon Market. It only cost $3. The bunch yielded close to 4 packed cups of basil leaves. From this I made pesto using also 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts, 3/4 cup olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, 6 large garlic cloves (toasted and minced), few drops of lemon juice, 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Garnish of Basil Leaves

• My basil leaves are from one of my basil plants from Vicki's Veggies near Picton.

The mister had the same sandwich for lunch. He used the word 'awesome'. I think my friend Marcus of Danish Open-Faced Sandwiches may say they are unconventional as far as open-faced sandwiches go, but would be pleased with the layers of texture, taste, and colour.