Honey Roasted Tomato Confit

When I visited my Swiss cousin late last summer, I tasted some of the sweetest cherry tomatoes imaginable. She’d sneak these ruby and gold delights into healthy “fruit” smoothies for her two skeptical boys — and I, after enjoying her bounty, brought home a few of her sweetest “bombs” for posterity. I planted them alongside our own cherry tomato varieties, and lo and behold, it turned into a spectacular year for tomatoes. My plants stretched an astonishing ten feet tall and produced an endless cascade of glossy red, purple, and golden jewels.

What do you do with buckets of sweet, sun-warmed cherry tomatoes? I’ve made pie, salad, and soup — all delicious — but I craved something different. I remembered an old Epicurious recipe for roasted cherry tomatoes and decided to turn up the garlic (by a lot — a whole head!). The result is sublime: honey-roasted, garlicky tomato confit that’s incredible on toast, tossed with pasta, or eaten straight from the jar.

Ingredients

• 3–4 pounds cherry tomatoes (more or less)

• 1 head garlic, peeled and crushed

• 1 tablespoon honey

• 6 tablespoons olive oil

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Step 1
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Halve the cherry tomatoes and arrange them cut side up in a baking dish. They should fit snugly.

Step 2
Crush the garlic with a pinch of salt, then whisk it together with the honey and olive oil. Spoon this honey garlic oil mixture evenly over the tomatoes. Sprinkle generously with freshly ground black pepper.

Roast for about 30 minutes, until the tomatoes are golden, juicy, and bubbling.

Allow to cool, then season with salt to taste. Transfer to jars and top with a little more olive oil.
Store in the refrigerator for at least a week. If you top with enough olive oil, they will keep longer.