Wondering what to do with all those cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes? If you’re not making my recipe for a tomato tart or if you want to try something new, here’s another recipe for mini-tomatoes for you! Tomato Confit.
By Tamaki Sono CC BY 2.0, Link
Our First Experience with Tomato Confit
In early August after Jeff had recovered mostly from his vascular surgery ordeal, we finally got a chance to use the Father’s Day gift certificate that Jeff received from his two daughters. The gift certificate was for a lovely hotel in Gloucester with a good restaurant and a spectacular view of the ocean.
We ran into some friends who were sitting at the bar near our table. We hadn’t seen them in a few years, so that was a fun surprise.
One of Jeff’s favorite foods is calamari. For years, I wasn’t a fan. But he kept offering me a taste of the calamari appetizers he gets whenever we go out to eat, and I finally, sort of, came around. So no surprise when Jeff ordered calamari at dinner that night.
The breaded, fried calamari came with a thick tomato sauce in a little bowl for dipping the calamari. It was so delicious, we went back to the menu to see what the tomato dipping sauce was. Tomato confit.
Confit is a French cooking term that means “to preserve”. These days, confit refers to any food that has been slow cooked in a fat.
After our dinner, I began looking at a variety of recipes for tomato confit. I ended up making up my own recipe that’s somewhat different from the one we had at dinner that was “saucier”.
My Recipe for Tomato Confit
The recipe for tomato confit that I came up with is less a dipping sauce and more a topping for toast, crackers or even pasta. The deep and rich taste comes from roasting the tomatoes in olive oil along with green and black olives and garlic.
The ingredient list doesn’t have specific amounts since I use whatever cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes I happen to have. Jeff’s cherry and grape tomato vines finished a couple of weeks ago, so I have been buying tomatoes in the supermarket or farmers market again.
Ingredients
- cherry and/or grape tomatoes (I like a mix of red and yellow tomatoes)
- green and black olives, pitted (again, I like a mix of both)
- red or green peppers (A 1 x 3″ strip of one pepper or more depending on how many tomatoes you are using)
- 2-4 garlic cloves, peeled, smashed and chopped
- thyme, either fresh or dried
- rosemary, either fresh or dried
- salt and pepper
- red pepper flakes (optional)
- capers (optional)
- olive oil
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Cut the cherry and/or grape tomatoes in half and arrange on a cookie sheet, pizza pan or roasting pan, anything as long as it has a rim to contain the olive oil.
- Remove the pits and chop the olives into smaller pieces.
- Chop the pepper into pieces around the size of a half tomato.
- Peel, smash and chop the garlic.
- Arrange the tomatoes, olives, pepper, and garlic on the roasting pan.
- Pour olive oil on top of the tomatoes, olives, peppers, and garlic so that they are surrounded by olive oil (but the olive oil doesn’t have to be deep or cover the tomatoes).
- Sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme, and rosemary to taste.
- If you like capers and red pepper flakes, feel free to add them. I have found that they’re not necessary for the flavor I’m going for.
- Place the roasting pan in the oven for about an hour. Bake or roast until the tomatoes begin to soften and turn golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let the mixture cool for at least 15 minutes so you don’t get burned by the oil.
- Smash the tomatoes, leaving a few intact. The olives and garlic tend to dry out faster than the tomatoes cook. Sometimes I take them out earlier if I remember.
- Store in a glass or plastic container for about 5 days in the refrigerator. The confit can be frozen, but I like it best right after cooking.
My photos don’t do this justice. It is soooooooo delicious!
I sometimes use the extra olive oil that the tomatoes were roasted in to sauté chicken or fish afterwards.
Hope you give this a try, especially if you’re a fan of sweet, roasted tomatoes. It makes for a wonderful appetizer on crackers or toast points. LMK if you do make it!
Oh, Allison, this is so beautiful and delicious! Thank you for the recipe, I will have to make this!
Lola Seicento recently posted…[ comfort zone ] SACRED NATURE Exfoliant Mask Review
I think you’d love this tomato confit, so easy and quick to make
I make something like this usually in the winter when cherry tomatoes don’t really taste like much. But after time in the oven with olive oil, garlic so good. After 30 minutes or so when tomatoes are starting to get a little black I add a little balsamic vinegar.
I’ll try the balsamic vinegar on them next time, Gloria! Thanks for the suggestion. In this recipe, I think the flavor not only comes from the sweetness of the roasted tomatoes and garlic, but also from the black Greek olives. So good year round
Oh, yum! On a good sourdough bread would be awesome! Rosemary, yum!
You’re right, Michelle, tomato confit is terrific on sourdough but also good on a Triscuit!