Oven Lovin’ Tomatoes

There is a reason everyone loves ketchup. When you long for the taste of sweet, sour, salty, bitter or umami you’ll find them all in tomatoes (affectionately called pomme d’amour or love apple). Oven-roasting concentrates those tastes. Roast fresh tomatoes for a lovely rich creamy tomato love potion or fall madly in love with your own homemade ketchup.

Oven-roasted Tomato Soup

10 vine ripened tomatoes, oven-roasted salt 1 cup white wine 2 cloves of garlic, peeled 1 onion, peeled and diced 2 Tbsp olive oil 1 red pepper, seeded and diced 2 cups tomato juice, instead of stock 1 cup heavy cream salt to taste tabasco to taste finely chopped chives for garnish (optional) Set your oven to 300˚F. Slice the tomatoes in half and place them on a baking sheet with the cut side facing up. Sprinkle on some salt and toss into the oven for 2 1/2 hours. Shut off the oven and let them cool inside and dry out in the oven. Allow them to cool completely for an hour or so. They can also be stored at this point for later use in other recipes. To store roasted tomatoes, allow them too cool completely before transferring to an airtight container and storing them in the fridge. In a small pot sautée the onions, red pepper and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until they begin to brown. Pour in the white wine and boil until the alcohol smell has evaporated. Add the tomatoes and tomato juice. Reserve one or two halves of the tomato to use as a garnish. For the garnish tomato, dice the tomato quite fine and set aside. Simmer the soup for 10 minutes, then using a hand blender/immersion blender puree the soup until it is totally smooth. Then keep pureeing for 2 more minutes until it is really, really smooth. Add the heavy cream and bring it to steamy simmer. Thoughtfully adjust the salt and tabasco. There is already salt on the tomatoes and tomato juice can have quite a bit of sodium too. To serve, ladle it into wide shallow bowls (warmed up in warm water and dried is nice) and top it with the diced garnish tomatoes and the finely chopped chives. If you have any cream left you can drizzle some of that on too. Will serve 6 people for a soup course. gets along with avocado, basil, bacon, bocincini cheese, cheddar cheese, cucumber, fennel, garlic, olive oil, parsley, pasta and vinegars fresh pick Pick bright red tomatoes with firm skin, no wrinkles and while you’ve got them in your hand give em a sniff. They should smell like, you guessed it, tomatoes. The vine should be a photogenic green and slightly rough to the touch. Keep them on your counter in a bowl like other fruit, not in the fridge. Be careful not to let them get squished. If they start to wrinkle, roast them. For really juicy hot house tomatoes in all shapes and sizes grown close to home get your hands on the Gull Valley tomatoes from the Gull Valley Greenhouse booth at the Calgary Farmer’s Market. ketchup In a small pot combine 10 oven roasted tomatoes, 1/2 finely chopped onion, 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic, 1/2 cup red wine vinegar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, salt to taste and cayenne to taste. Bring to simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Puree all ingredients until smooth, strain and continue cooking until it reaches a nice thick ketchup consistency. Pour into a large flat container and chill before transferring to a bottle for easy squeezing. Will keep for 1 month in the fridge. Bonus of making your own ketchup is the freedom to adjust the flavour by adding more salt, sugar or vinegar to suit your preference. nerdbyte When tomatoes first made the hop across the pond from South America to Europe in the 16th century (less than 400 years ago!) people were certain the bright red fruit was poisonous. It certainly didn’t help that it’s a member of the deadly nightshade family. So for a couple hundred years people only grew them as a novelty decorative plant until the Italians (probably on a dare) started eating them like crazy. The rest is history. It’s hard to imagine that the Italians’ love affair with tomatoes has only been bearing fruit for the last 200 years.