With the dog-days of summer, arrives one of the season’s favorite treats: homegrown, juicy, colorful, sweet and ever-so flavorful tomatoes!!!
Around planting time in the spring, I always promise myself to not plant too many tomatoes that year. Most seasons, I end up with a tomato jungle in my biggest raised bed anyway.
Right now, there are several different types of cherry and heirloom tomatoes growing in my garden.

Tomato season is now in full swing at my house, and when the cherry tomatoes start ripening by the hundreds, I resort to the slow-roast method to preserve some of them for later. This recipe is perfect to make some to use now, and freeze some for a Taste-of-Summer, once the seasons change and it gets cold and rainy outside.

Here is what to do:

• lots of cherry tomatoes, cut in half ( I filled two rimmed baking sheets)
• good olive oil
• several hands full of your fresh favorite herbs ( oregano, basil, thyme, marjoram)
• a head of garlic, peeled
• a little sea salt and some freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 250º.
Very lightly oil the baking sheets and place the halved tomatoes cut side up onto it.
The tomatoes can be very crowded , as they shrink during roasting.
In a food processor, chop the garlic, then add the herbs and pulse a few times.
Place this mixture into a small bowl.
Add some olive oil (around half a cup) and stir.
Sprinkle evenly over the tomatoes, along with a bit of salt and a few grinds of pepper.
Place trays into the oven and roast for about 2 to 3 hours, rotating the trays now and then.

The tomatoes are done when they look shriveled and a bit dry.
Remove from the oven and cool. Refrigerated they keep for about 4 or 5 days.

After making these,I added some of them to a quick supper of couscous with fava beans. Last night I cooked some white runner beans in a crockpot, then sautéed an onions with some Esplette pepper and garlic, added the beans with some of the bean broth, lots of the slow-roasted tomatoes and chopped parsley and after simmering it for a while, we had a super delicious dinner with some leftovers. Top some crostini with these little jewels and add a little goat cheese if you like. Very tasty!

These tomatoes are great frozen in small containers. During the winter, they add great flavor to soups, stews, tomato sauces or any other dish one might want to perk up with a sun-kissed flavor!
The slow-roasting really concentrates the tomato flavor, that reminds me of sun-dried tomatoes with more moisture.

Enjoy!