Slow Roast Tomatoes

I must start off by giving credit here to my friend and colleague Helen who told me yesterday I simply had to try these slow roast, tapas-type tomatoes. She promised a transformation of any bog standard 50p packet of tomatoes into a moreish veggie treat great as a barbecue side, starter or general nice picky thing- currently topical given my up coming vegan challenge. She wasn’t wrong, as this very night three old standard tesco salad pack tomoatoes topped off a salad dinner perfectly. The slow cooking really brings out the flavour for a sweet, rich depth of taste that is just so rare in low cost supermarket tomatoes. So here it is, Hels Bells Tomatoes, give them a go, dead easy, dead healthy and incredibly tasty.

You will need: tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and sea salt- Maldon Sea Salt is best if you can get it!

Set your oven to 120 degrees C. Halve your tomatoes and arrange on an oven proof dish or non stick baking tray. Thinly- and I really do mean thinly- slice your garlic. About one clove per two tomatoes should do it. Gently drizzle some olive over the tomatoes, then arrange the garlic over the tops. Add a pinch of coarse ground sea salt, and you’re done. Place in the oven for one hour, then increase the heat to 130 for an additional 15 minutes. The skins wont split as obviously as conventionally roasted tomatoes and once they are done the garlic should be brown and dried out- scrape this off the top then serve immediately. And make plenty, because you’ll want more.

Variations- You can also add herbs to the tops of your toms before roasting- a basil leaf does wonders for the final effect I’m told or a few rosemary leaves or a sprinkling of fennel seeds will also be good.