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?
