Day 13 - Tomato Petals

So there I was in the Westbury Costco today. (Note: If at all possible, avoid the Westbury Costco on Sunday afternoon at 3:30.) And I was hitting myself for not being more organized about making a project-related shopping list. There are so many ridiculously low-priced things at Costco, particularly giant packages of meat. And I have so many meat recipes to do. But I wasn't totally sure exactly what I needed, so I held back.

Meanwhile, I knew I'd be making something tonight, and I had a vague memory of a simple recipe that involved tomatoes, so I took a chance and bought the jumbo-sized container of plum tomatoes. That's how I came to cook Tomato Petals tonight.

Tomato Petals (p. 317)

The name is a little twee, isn't it? Makes you think that they're ultimately going to get arranged into some kind of tomato rosette, which is not the case.

This recipe could also be called "slow-roasted tomato slices" because that's basically what it is.

My favorite part of this recipe involved a detour to another recipe (Marinara Sauce) for a mini-lesson on peeling tomatoes. Martha explains a technique that works so well, it boggled my mind. It involves blanching and cooling the tomatoes, so that you can peel them practically like a banana. How do people figure these things out??

Once my tomatoes were peeled, seeded and sliced, they got tossed in oil, honey, thyme and salt and put in the oven to roast at a low temperature (275°) for two hours. Martha said they should stay in until "slightly shrunken and almost dry." Well, at two hours, these little guys still looked so wet, so they got an extra half hour or so. And many of them were still wet-ish when I took them out. Kind of hard to judge this one....

In the end, some were overcooked, some seemed just right. What they turned out to be was close to sun-dried tomatoes, but amazingly flavorful, fresh ones. That little bit of honey makes them really sweet, and the thyme is a great flavor to highlight the tomato. I'm not sure what I'm going to use them for - they'll only be fresh for three days. I'll bet they would taste great on a sandwich...

Jeff: A- (just not sure if I nailed this one...)
Martha: A

Until we eat again...