CHERRY TOMATO CONFIT

Fresh, in-season tomatoes are one of my favorite foods on earth, but this was not always the case. In fact, when I was a child, fresh tomatoes were one of my least favorite foods. You could blame it on my immature tastebuds, or the fact that I was never privileged with the opportunity to taste a real tomato, you know, a homegrown tomato. The difference between a homegrown tomato or a tomato you buy freshly harvested from the farmer’s market versus a store-bought tomato is unbelievable, they are worlds apart in flavor & texture. Everything about homegrown tomatoes is incredible. But I didn’t learn this difference until I married into my hubby’s Greek family who introduced me to real tomatoes. I was blown away at what I had been missing out on all of my life. Summer had always been my favorite time of year, but now that I had fallen in love with tomatoes, summertime had just taken on a whole new level of awesomeness.

cherry tomato confit

With summertime almost here, I am patiently waiting for tomato season to officially begin. In the mean time, I picked up some early season cherry tomatoes from the farmer’s market to tide me over. While delicious, these early season tomatoes just don’t have the same concentrated flavor as tomatoes that have been basking in the heat of the summer sun. The good new is, there is a solution for my tomato impatience and that is cherry tomato confit.

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Confit ( pronounced: con-FEE ) is a cooking technique where food is slow cooked in liquid. In this case, cherry tomatoes get slow cooked in a bath of olive oil along with garlic, rosemary, thyme and salt. The process renders them into soft, luscious little jewels that literally melt in your mouth.

The best way for me to describe to you how truly amazing cherry tomato confit is, would be that we will be eating this on repeat all summer. We could literally eat this every day and never grow tired of it. The possibilities of how to use them are really endless, but if we had to choose just one way to eat cherry tomato confit it would be on top of toast that is spread with creamy ricotta and finished off with a garnish of fresh basil.

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This is literally one of the best things that has ever come out of our kitchen. I know that may seem like a grand statement, but it is absolutely true. Cherry tomato confit is a game changer. Once you introduce yourself to the greatness of cherry tomato confit, you will probably need to double, triple, or even quadruple the recipe so that you can have them on hand and share them with people you love. Simple and straightforward to make and even easier to eat, do yourself a favor and make some cherry tomato confit – your summers will be forever better.

cherry tomato confit 5 Print
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CHERRY TOMATO CONFIT


Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1 lb cherry tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 5 sprigs fresh thyme
  • flaky salt

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat oven to 250F degrees
  2. Fill a baking pan with whole cherry tomatoes – add olive oil, garlic, rosemary, & thyme to the pan and sprinkle the pan contents generously with flaky salt
  3. Cook, uncovered for 2-3 hours until the tomatoes are swollen and the skins are wrinkled (total time depends on the size of your cherry tomatoes)
  4. Let tomatoes cool to room temperature & serve or transfer to a jar if storing
  5. Store tomatoes in the refrigerator & bring to room temperature before serving
{ 12 comments… add one }
  • I made a double batch and it is already gone. This is so fabulous and easy! Thank you Bella!

    • bella ,

      Yay! I am so happy you enjoyed them & you’re welcome Marcia ;)

  • Christine Leppones ,

    How long does it last in the fridge? Can you freeze it or does that ruin it? Trying to determine how much I will make without wasting it.
    Thank you!
    Christine

    • bella ,

      I would say it keeps in the fridge for about 1 week. I haven’t tried freezing it yet, but I think it would be totally fine to freeze it, the texture may be a different once thawed, but still delicious I’m sure!

  • Amanda ,

    I came here from Instagram looking for the instructions on how to make the pasta you made with this, it looks incredible!! Any quick instructions on how you put that together?! Thanks!

    • bella ,

      Hi Amanda! You simply prepare some spaghetti noodles & reserve a bit of the pasta water. While the noodles are draining, add some of the confit oil to the pot with a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste. Cook this over medium heat until you have a light sauce – add in the noodles & some of the pasta water & stir to coat the pasta. Plate the coated pasta, top with confit cherry tomatoes, burrata, chili flakes, maldon salt & basil! Hope this helps :)

      • So inspired by everything you post!!!
        Congratulations!
        You are so talented.

        Regards
        From Mexico City

        • bella | ful-filled ,

          Thank you so so much Araceli! I am so honored to have met you and your daughters! Hopefully, we meet again soon! <3

  • Crystal Sequeira ,

    I’m inspired! Just trying this out right not :)
    Thank you for sharing!

    • bella | ful-filled ,

      Yay! SO excited that you are trying it out! I hope you like it as much as we do ;)

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