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Recipe for slow-roasted green tomatoes {vegan, gluten-free}

Slow-roasted-green-tomatoes-detail

In the beginning, way back in May, our friend Bev gave us five leftover tomato plants and a roll of chicken wire. My husband Ted and Ben, our teenaged helper, constructed a cage we hoped would be chipmunk-proof (it wasn't). We nestled the plants into our home-grown compost, and I watered and waited, until the plants took hold. Goldfinches sunbathed on the tops of the posts, bees pollinated the flowers, and all was right with the world.... except that Mother Nature was in no hurry to coax tomatoes from our vines and, once we began to get ripe tomatoes, she decided to cut the season short by sending the heavy rains and wind of Hurricane Irene. The plants are almost gone by now, and for the past two weeks, we've had far more green tomatoes than red ones, so I thought, why not slow-roast those green tomatoes? I'm so glad I did. The method is exactly the same as for slow-roasted red tomatoes, but the green tomatoes, because they're unripe, turn more tart than sweet. I like to roast plum tomatoes that are heavy and meaty for their size, but you can use any size or shape of green tomato. Please do try this; you'll really like the salty bite, which pairs so well with mild cheese like mozzarella, and with pasta.

Slow-roasted-green-tomatoes

Slow-roasted green tomatoes

From the pantry, you'll need: olive oil, kosher salt, fresh black pepper, garlic (optional).

Makes 4 cups of tomato halves.

Ingredients

5 lbs plum tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
Kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
Olive oil (not extra virgin)

Directions

Preheat oven to 200°F. Line a rimmed sheet pan with several layers of aluminum foil.

Set the tomatoes cut side up on the baking sheet. Sprinkle them lightly with kosher salt and fresh black pepper. If you're using garlic sprinkle the minced garlic over all the tomatoes (I opted not to use garlic, to give me more flexibility in how I use the finished tomatoes).

Drizzle olive oil liberally over all of the tomatoes.

Bake at 200F for 7 hours.

At that point, check the tomatoes to make sure they are not too crispy; this will depend on the size of your tomatoes. The goal is to have tomatoes that are chewy and still slightly moist, though totally collapsed. If you are using large tomatoes, you might want to cook them for one additional hour. However, the green tomatoes have less moisture than red ones, so although red plum tomatoes might cook for 10 hours, the green ones will be finished in 7-8 hours.

Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Pack into containers or jars for the refrigerator, or into ziploc bags for the freezer. Be sure to include the oil from the pan, too; it has wonderful flavor.

Slow-roasted tomatoes will keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks, or in the freezer for a year or more.

[Printer-friendly recipe.]


More recipes in The Perfect Pantry:
Pasta salad with shrimp, feta, basil and slow-roasted tomatoes
Goat cheese and basil bruschetta
Corn, bean and two tomato salad
Pasta with roasted tomatoes, artichoke hearts and shrimp
Chicken paella with slow-roasted tomatoes

Other recipes that use these pantry ingredients:
Roasted tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil panini, from Panini Happy
Slow roasted tomato hummus, from Kalyn's Kitchen
Tomato soup with roasted red peppers, from Andrea's Recipes
Lentils and quinoa with slow-roasted tomatoes, baby spinach and mushrooms, from Cowgirl Chef
Crispy salmon with risotto and slow roasted tomatoes, from More Than Burnt Toast

Need more creative ideas for using tomatoes all year round? Get 25 Tomatoes, my e-book packed with fantastic recipes, full-color photos and a fun video tutorial. With the FREE Kindle Reading app, delicious tomato recipes will always be just one click away on any computer, tablet or smart phone. Click here to learn more.


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Comments

What a brilliant idea. I'm definitely going to try this.

I agree - Brilliant idea. I have lots of green tomatoes, including Roma's and they don't seem to want to ripen, even though the weather is warm...

We just got a frost here last weekend and I'm left with a million green tomatoes that needed to be picked. What a great way to use some of them up!

Kalyn, for all the years we've been roasting red tomatoes, I can't imagine why I never thought to roast green ones.

Katie, same here. The last ones just stay green on the vine, and rather than leaving them for the chipmunks, I decided to roast them.

Carrie, oooh, I hope we're still a few weeks away from our first frost. I harvested most of my basil, just in case, but I'm trying to leave the tomatoes on the vine as long as possible.

Truly genius! I think these would be delicious whizzed into a "salsa verde" of sorts!

once again, simplicity rules!

Carol, that's a great idea. I'm going to try it.

Susan, couldn't be easier, and I'm pretty much down to green tomatoes at this point in my garden season, so it's a great way to save them for later in the winter.

These are absolutely Gorgeous. Cheers !!

I'm going to make this tomorrow! How great! I did not know what to do with all my green tomats.... this is perfect! I do this with the red ones, so of course why not with the green ones! :) Thanks!!

Nice site,
I have been a chef for a number of years and whenever the summer comes, you need to have some sort of tomato salad on the menu.

I like combining different tomato preparations. For example, you take some fresh, sliced heirloom tomatoes, some of your roasted tomatoes, some fried tomato skin and a tomato chutney

Basically you end up with a tomato "fest"

Lili, isn't it funny that we've all been roasting red tomatoes but never the green ones? I'm so glad you're going to "go green."

Curt, thanks for all of the tomato suggestions.

I would love to try this, what a great idea.

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