Tasty Tuesday

After my fried butter post, I’m feeling a little bit hypocritical about this week’s Tasty Tuesday.  But really that post was more a slam on the Republican hopefuls (in case that wasn’t clear) than the butter (even though it just sounds disgusting). 

My friend Elana found this recipe in an airline magazine this summer.  I just had to try it, especially with some really good tomatoes I bought from Forneris Farms last weekend. 

Roasted Tomato Confit with Bacon Fat
Ingredients
3 pounds tomatoes
6 large cloves garlic
12 sprigs thyme
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pound sliced bacon
Salt ?

Directions
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Halve the tomatoes lengthwise, and place them, skin-side-down in a roasting pan. Scatter the garlic and thyme sprigs over the tomatoes, and season with several grinds of black pepper, or to taste.

I wanted to eat the tomatoes just like that, but I controlled myself and continued cooking.
3. Layer the bacon over the tomatoes, placing the strips, one at a time, over the tomatoes, slightly overlapping them if necessary.
4. Place the roasting pan in the oven and roast for 1 hour.

5. Increase the heat to 400 degrees and continue to roast until the bacon crisps and browns on top, an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the pan from heat.

At this point the house smelled amazing!

6. Carefully remove the layer of bacon (save the bacon for snacks or set aside for another use). Taste a bite of tomato and check for seasoning. Sprinkle over 1 teaspoon salt, or as needed (I didn’t need to add salt.  Saltiness will vary by brand of bacon, and more or less salt may be needed for the tomatoes). Gently turn the tomatoes over in the pan (cut-side down), and place the pan on the stove. Bring the liquid around the tomatoes to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes to distribute the seasoning and flavors. Remove from heat.

7. Place the tomatoes in a glass jar or bowl. Cover with the remaining liquid, gently pressing the tomatoes down so they are submerged. Set aside until cool.
8. Cover and refrigerate the tomatoes until ready to use, and then warm on the stovetop before using. The confit will keep for up to 10 days, covered and refrigerated.

The recipe recommends that the tomatoes be served on crostini or over pasta.  I did warm and serve over pasta.  It made for a very simple tomato sauce with fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano.  I thought they might be flavored overwhelmingly with bacon, but they weren’t at all.  They just had a very nice flavor.

My favorite though was serving them cold in a wedge salad with bleu cheese and crumbled bacon pieces. 
I had this salad three times for dinner last week.  It was so good!

Thanks for the recipe Elana!