create (a life): Roasted Tomatoes

We woke up to a frost advisory this morning. I knew it was coming and have been collecting all the ripe cherry tomatoes, as well as our largest tomatoes to ripen in our window, to store away before the frost hit them. This year was definitely a tomato year and I finally learned how to best care for our tomato plants... by leaving them alone. No over-watering or over-pruning this year! We could have used a couple more large tomato plants and a few less cherry tomato plants, but that all goes into the plans for next year. In the meantime there we had a large collection of cherry tomatoes to contend with. Too many to eat, too small to can- just what on earth do you do with large batches of cherry tomatoes? I started looking around and came upon roasting and freezing. Roasted tomatoes to add to soups and quiches and pasta throughout the long winter to come? Yes, please!

And the steps couldn't be easier either. First you wash the tomatoes, then you cut them in half and put them on your roasting pan or cookie sheet (lined with aluminum foil if you'd like). Drizzle them with olive oil and season with salt &  pepper. 

Roast at 300 degrees for about two hours. After an hour and a half I recommend start peeking to make sure they don't go from roasted to burnt...

...especially the teeny, tiny cherry tomatoes. As you can see, I didn't start checking them early enough.

That's okay, the ones that did roast as planned made the effort worth it. I then released them from the baking sheet with a spatula before transferring them to the freezer. A few hours later they went from the baking sheets into freezer bags to hang out until needed next. I look forward to pulling them out later this winter. On a cold snowy day when garden tomatoes seem like a distant memory- and we could all use a small taste of summer!

Note: Have larger tomatoes to store away instead? Same technique and temperature, but longer roasting time. Start peeking at them at two hours. Enjoy!