Oven-roasted canned tomatoes

We are nowhere near fresh tomato season, here. My plants in the garden have only recently been set out. But, oven-roasted tomatoes are still a possibility, at this time of year.

Remember all of those canned tomatoes that I bought in the fall? Okay, so you don't remember. But I do. They stare me in the face every time I step into the pantry.

Here is a delicious way to use those canned, whole tomatoes. Yes, I did say CANNED tomatoes!

Oven-roasted Canned Tomatoes

4 to 5 cups of canned, whole, peeled tomatoes
2 to 3 tablespoons of oil (olive or vegetable, but olive will taste even better)
pinch of black pepper
pinch of sea salt

Preheat oven to 375 F

Fill a sieve or strainer with canned tomatoes, over a dish (I use a glass pie plate).

Cut tomatoes in half, lengthwise. Gently squeeze out juice and seeds over the bowl or plate. Save those juices!

Place tomato halves, cut side up, single layer, in a jelly roll pan (baking sheet with rim) or shallow roasting pan. Place the largest tomato halves in the corners and around the edges of the pan (for more even roasting).

Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with pepper and salt.

Roast for 40-45 minutes. Remove from the oven. Turn tomatoes over.
Remove any very caramelized tomatoes from the baking sheet.

Reduce oven temp to 325 F. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove very caramelized tomatoes.

Bake another 15 minutes. Adjust time, as needed, for your oven and pan. If your oven has a "hot spot", or if your pan is warped, you may need to turn pan around, and/or redistribute the juices by tilting pan for a few seconds.

Scoop tomatoes and juices into a glass bowl. Sprinkle with herbs, as desired (minced basil, parsley, fresh thyme, oregano, fresh rosemary, garlic powder).

Serve immediately as a warm side dish. Or cool, to serve at room temperature.



I love these, sliced and added to sandwiches. Really delish! Feast your mind on this -- pocket bread, filled with avocado, roasted canned tomatoes, sprouts, grated mozzarella. Or, turkey breast, on wheat bread smeared with roasted garlic, roasted canned tomatoes and fresh baby spinach. I'm getting hungry for lunch already!

These roasted tomatoes also make a wonderful, rich addition to pasta dishes and salads, and cooked rice dishes, chopped and tossed in.

Puree with an immersion blender, for a rich sauce for pasta (add back some of the reserved straining liquid), or, to make roasted tomato soup (add some chicken or veggie stock).

Chilled and sliced into long strips, these oven-roasted tomatoes are a family favorite for topping Italian salads. Some Romaine lettuce, olives, garbanzo beans, crusty homemade croutons, mozzarella/provolone cheese and these tomatoes.

Save the liquid from straining and juicing the tomatoes to add to marinara sauce, soup or for part of the liquid in cooking rice.

Do not discard the oil from the roasted tomatoes! It is infused with tomato-ey goodness. Use as the oil in dressing cold or hot pasta, or for drizzling over toasted French bread, before adding any other toppings.

If you have any left, store the roasted tomatoes in a glass bowl in the fridge, for up to 5 days.

Buon appetito!

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A very odds and ends sort of dinner last night

We had Crazy Soup, multi-fruity pie, and another scavenged salad (this time -- watercress and kale florets, with leftover rhubarb dressing).

Crazy Soup is leftover bits of savories from our dinners. Some onions browned in bacon fat, bits of ground beef and onion from forming hamburgers, liquid and trimmings from "juicing" canned tomatoes, canned vegetable liquid, liquid from thawed spinach, broken pieces of dried-out tortilla, a spoonful or two of different cooked veggies, and an extra container of some sort of "meat" gravy.

After each night's dinner, if there's not really enough of anything leftover for a portion, I scoop whatever remains of dinner into a quart-sized container that I keep in the freezer. When I have 2 of these containers, I thaw them, dump into a stock-pot and add some cooked beans. Sometimes I need to amend the seasonings. This time, it was flavorful enough to simmer it until thickened, and add a pinch of salt. And that's our Crazy Soup!

The multi-fruity pie began as a plum pie, with frozen plums. I found some over-candied orange peel, the liquid from thawed, frozen strawberries (from last weekends brunch), and about a cup of leftover rhubarb sauce that no one seemed interested in. I added all of these found ingredients to the plums. Then sprinkled with a mixture of sugar, flour and pinch of baking soda, and tossed it all together right in the pie shell. The pie was absolutely delicious -- however kinda soupy. It could have used more flour in the mixture.


Much of what went into last night's dinner were scraps that might have otherwise been tossed. So, it feels like the dinner was almost "free". (And I could tell the dinner impressed my family. One member had a smile on his face when talking about what might have just been tossed, but was turned into a full meal for our family.)

I was very tired from a busy weekend, and this was just the sort of dinner I felt up to pulling together. True, not gourmet, but still good enough. And sometimes, good enough, is "good enough".

Maybe tonight I'll have more energy to make a "real" meal.

(The bonus with a dinner like last night's -- I was able to empty a bunch of containers from the fridge and freezer!)

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