Tomato confit, fast and slow

Roasted cherry tomato confit

 One of my favorite things about summer is bringing in heaping handfuls of small little tomato jewels from the garden. In order to keep on top of them before the fruit flies set in, I turn out little pots of tomato confit to use on pizza, pasta and bruschetta. It freezes well, so I get to savor a bit of summer in the winter, too.

My go-to recipe for years has been a New York Times recipe published in the Star Tribune Taste section years ago, but I recently ran across a variation that could be made in a slow cooker. Given that one of my Pinterest boards is titled “Make that slow cooker do something,” this struck a chord. Plus, while it takes much more cooking time, it doesn’t mean turning on the oven when the August sauna descends.

Tomato confit

Adapted from “The Chef and the Slow Cooker,” by Hugh Acheson

Ingredients

16 plum tomatoes

1 tablespoon kosher salt

8 black peppercorns

4 bay leaves

3 sprigs fresh thyme (I used lemon thyme for a double-shot of lemon)

8 garlic cloves, smashed

2 fat strips of lemon zest (he recommends using a peeler)

2 cups extra-virgin olive oil

Method

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Put tomatoes in boiling water three to four at a time and blanch until skin starts to separate, anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute depending on the size of your tomatoes. Remove tomatoes to an ice water bath with a slotted spoon. Peel and core tomatoes, placing them upright, core-side down in a slow cooker insert. Repeat until all tomatoes are peeled and cored and lined up like little tomato soldiers. (If you don't have tomato-canning hardened hands, you'll need to let them cool a bit until you're able to handle them.)

Season with the salt. Add peppercorns, bay leaves, thyme, garlic, and lemon zest. Pour olive oil over the top.

Cover slow cooker with lid and cook on low for 4 hours. Transfer tomatoes and flavorants to large jars. Top with cooking oil. Cap the jars and let cool. Store in refrigerator.

Rating: This was just fine. It makes a perfectly fine sauce, although not finer than an average stove-top simmered sauce. The lemon flavor didn't seem to come through, which was a disappointment. Perhaps doubling the amount added would help. Again, there's nothing wrong with this sauce, and the oil could have lots of other uses, but it is time consuming and fussy compared to its comparative worth.

Ready for the oven: 1 whole wheat pizza crust, a schmear of cherry tomato confit, and dollops of ricotta mixed with lemon zest, garlic and thyme

Cherry tomato confit

Adapted from the New York Times, which had the audacity to suggest discarding the wonderful roasted garlic. Sacrilege.

Ingredients

2 pints cherry tomatoes (a mix of colors is nice)

8 to 10 garlic cloves, peeled and halved if large

3 springs fresh rosemary leaves, chopped

Kosher salt

Crushed red pepper flakes

¼ cup olive oil

Method

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spread tomatoes on a rimmed roasting sheet. Tuck garlic in between the tomatoes. Sprinkle with rosemary, salt and a generous pinch of red pepper flakes. Drizzle with the olive oil. Bake about 30 to 35 minutes, or until tomatoes are wilted and garlic and some of the tomatoes are just starting to get a touch of brown.

Remove from oven and smush gently with a spatula to spread the garlic a bit.

Rating: Truly one of the more wonderful substances. Roasting the cherry tomatoes makes them a spreadable sweet-savory treat, with just a touch of heat from the pepper flakes. Spread some goat cheese on toasted baguette slices, top with some of this and you've achieved perfection.

 

Obviously not all tomato confits are created equal. The cherry tomato confit is still hands down my favorite. It's much faster to make, both in terms of prep and cooking time, and the roasting really brings out the tomato flavors. It takes much less olive oil, so you're more likely to always have the pantry ingredients on hand. On the other hand, all that olive oil that goes into the slow cooker version gives you lots of flavorful olive oil in return that you can drizzle on pretty much anything, from risotto to roast chicken. And it does help out plum tomatoes, and makes a "just fine" sauce that doesn't require any stove top attention.