The recipe for this week’s French Friday prominently features tomates confites – an ingredient with which I was unfamiliar. I suspected tomates confites was different than sun-dried tomatoes as those would probably include sec or sèche (dry) in the name. A bit of google searching confirmed sun-dried tomatoes = tomates séchés ? tomates confites. Instead tomates confites are slow roasted tomatoes conserved in oil. Another round of searching led me to tomates confites: le recette facile (the easy recipe). Perfect! The recipe says these are good to serve with pasta or on a tartine. Tartine lesson next week…
| Tomates Confites |
Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 3 hours
Total time: 3 hours 5 mins
These are a great ingredient to have on hand. You’ll find them softer than sun-dried tomatoes. They also have a great concentrated, caramelized tomato flavor. I wish we could buy these in the supermarket like the French!
Ingredients:
- 10-12 plum tomatoes
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- freshly ground pepper
- 2-3 Tablespoons olive oil
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 195°F.
- Seed the tomatoes by cutting them in half through the middle (not the stem end) and using your fingers to remove the seeds. Cut each half in half again (so you now have quartered the tomatoes). Peel the garlic cloves.
- Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Oil sheet lightly with some of the olive oil. Place tomatoes and garlic cloves on the sheet. Season with sugar, salt, thyme & a few turns of the pepper grinder. Pour the remainder of the olive oil over the tomatoes and toss to coat.
- Cook in preheated oven for 3-4 hours. The tomatoes should be soft with a concentrated and somewhat caramelized flavor when they are finished. Pack into a jar & cover with additional olive oil. Store in the refrigerator and use within a week.
Notes:
Yield: Approximately 1 cup
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