Tomato Candy aka Slow Roasted Tomatoes

Wow, we haven't posted for a while! There have been lots of transitions in the family over the past few months, but no lack of delicious, local cooking. Here's a simple recipe that takes advantage of the abundance of tomatoes still in season. I used Juliet tomatoes, which are like small Roma tomatoes. The recipe is inspired by Orangette's recipe for Slow-Roasted Tomatoes with Sea Salt and Ground Coriander and Food & Wine's recipe for Honey-Tomato Bruschetta.

2 pints ripe tomatoes (roma, juliet, cherry, or grape tomatoes would all work well)
~2 T Olive oil
Sea salt
Ground coriander

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wash the tomatoes, and halve them lengthwise. Toss the tomatoes in a bowl with the olive oil. Place them, skin side down, on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle them with sea salt and ground coriander—about a pinch of each for every four to six tomato halves.

Bake the tomatoes until they shrink to about 1/3 of their original size but are still soft and juicy, 4 to 6 hours. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, and allow the tomatoes to cool to room temperature. Place them in an airtight container, and store them in the refrigerator. Delicious on their own, with pasta, on bruschetta (see Food & Wine recipe), on a simple pizza, or anything else you can imagine!

Black Beans and/or Cuban Sofrito

Black Beans and/or Cuban Sofrito
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Beans
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 3-4 hours
Yield: 1.5 quart


Ingredients
1 lb. dried black beans
16 strips turkey bacon (optional)
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
7 cloves garlic, minced
5 ½ cups water (4 ½ in a slow cooker)
2 chipotle peppers, whole, no need to wash off adobo sauce, if any (substitute w/ other chilis, or green/red bell peppers)
2 bay leaves
1½ tsp salt

Directions
Pick through beans, discarding all non-bean material and any beans that are broken or strange looking
Rinse beans and add to the pot
Fill with cold water to an inch above the beans, cover, and set aside for 5 hours
Drain beans
Pour in the water amount listed above
Turn heat to high
Rinse salt pork and add to pot
Add onion, chili or bell pepper, garlic, salt, and bay leaves
When boiling, reduce heat to low simmer and cover
Stir occasionally about 1½-2 hours, until the desired tenderness
Add water if needed
Remove the peppers and bacon
Remove 1 cup of beans & 1 cup of bean liquid and medium blend (until mostly liquid with small bits of bean)
Add mashed beans back into the pot
If desired, add sofrito (1/4 cup sofrito to 1 cup of beans)
Simmer uncovered for another 20 to 30 minutes until thickened to the desired consistency.
Serve over rice, next to rice, or by itself.

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Cuban Sofrito
Yield: 2 cups
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green/red/yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 t salt
1 t ground cumin
1 T dried oregano, crushed
1 red habanero chile, seeded and chopped
2 bay leaves
2 tomatoes, chopped (optional)
3/4 cup canned tomato sauce or 3/8 cup (3 oz.) tomato paste mixed with equal amount of water
1 T lime juice
½ cup sherry

Directions:
Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
Add onion and pepper, and cook until onion is translucent.
Add the garlic, and saute until tender.
Add salt, pepper, cumin, oregano and bay leaves.
If using tomatoes, stir in and cook until all of the liquid is released, stirring frequently.
Gradually stir in the tomato sauce
Lower heat and cook a few more minutes, being careful to add sherry if mixture gets too dry
Taste, and adjust seasonings if needed
Thin the sauce down if necessary with rest of sherry (if more liquid needed use water)
Remove bay leaves and set aside
Pour into a high sided container and blend with immersion blender
Sauce is now done but can be cooked more, if desired, just put the bay leaves back in.
When finally taken off of the heat, add lime juice (taste before and after to verify if this helps)
Serve over meat, rice, beans, fish, or potatoes.

Chana Masala

This is a hearty and easy Indian-spiced chickpea dish. Adapted from www.smittenkitchen.com.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 medium onions, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (to taste)
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (to taste)
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 cups tomatoes, chopped small or 1 15-ounce can of whole tomatoes with their juices, chopped small + tomato paste to thicken (about half a small can)
2/3 cup water or vegetable broth
4 cups cooked chickpeas or 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 lemon (juiced)

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion, garlic, ginger and pepper and sauté over medium heat until browned, about 5 minutes. Turn heat down to medium-low and add the coriander, cumin, cayenne, turmeric, cumin seeds, paprika and garam masala. Cook onion mixture with spiced for a minute or two, then add the tomatoes and any accumulated juices, scraping up any bits that have stuck to the pan. If you want a deeper tomato flavor and a slightly thicker sauce, add some tomato paste. Add the water or broth and chickpeas. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, then stir in salt and lemon juice.

Eat up or put a lid on it and reheat it when needed. Curries such as this reheat very well, later or or in the days that follow, should it last that long.

Tomato Watermelon Salad

Delicious and refreshing salad from Crooks Corner in Chapel Hill

5 C watermelon, seeded and cubed

1 1/2 lbs very ripe tomatoes, chopped

3 t sugar

1/2 t salt

1 small red onion

1/2 C red wine vinegar

1/4 C good quality olive oil

Combine first 4 ingredients and let sit for 15 minutes.  Then add the rest of the ingredients.  Good immediately eaten or the next day. Serve cold.