Baked Cherry Tomatoes, Even in Winter
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I know there's a lot of talk about eating locally and in season when possible. And with tomatoes, it seems to be doubly important. I fully blame those watery, even sour, near-white-in-the-center grocery tomatoes for the number of people who claim to hate them. So usually I forgo tomato recipes during the winter unless I can use the canned variety. But if you need a fix, and you find a couple of pints of beautiful little cherry tomatoes, roasting them in the oven with a shower of olive oil, garlic and bread crumbs will, I promise you, bring them to life. Even if it's horrible and snowing and gray outside.
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And if it is snowing and horrible and gray outside, and you're stuck inside, say, with not a lot to do, and you feel like fussing around A Lot with your cherry tomatoes, this is the dish for you. The steps are easy, the ingredients common. The method? A little bit of a pain. But not that much. Not with some music on in the background and a chair pulled up to the table. Just embrace slicing through all of those tomatoes and methodically arranging them cut-side up in a single layer on the bottom of your pan.
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Pomodorini Cilegie al Forno, or Baked Cherry Tomatoes
From Susan Simon's Contorni
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, passed through a press
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 pints cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons dried bread crumbs
Whisk together the olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper in a bowl.
Preheat the oven to 350F. Get comfortable and cut the tomatoes in half crosswise. Place them together tightly, cut-side up in one layer on the bottom of a 17"x 11" (9"x 13" will also work). Spoon the olive oil mixture over the top of the tomatoes, then sprinkle with the breadcrumbs.
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Bake the tomatoes until the olive oil is golden and the breadcrumbs browned. About 1 hour. Dig in.
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