On Sunday morning I went with a couple of my friends to an outdoor sculpt yoga class in a park. Now having had this experience, I am kicking myself for waiting so long this summer to join in with another hundred or so fellow yoga lovers to find zen under the canopy of a sunny, blue sky on a warm summer day. Already I am dreaming of making a trip out to Red Rocks in Colorado to take one of the summer series Saturday morning yoga classes held there. The views and elevation alone will more than likely take my breath away. With outdoor yoga classes essentially in my own backyard, why would anyone travel all the way to Colorado for one? If you have ever been to Colorado and/or to Red Rocks, you know the answer to that question. If you haven't been to one or the other, close your eyes for a moment and imagine the deepest blue sky. Now pair that image with doing something you love in an open air amphitheater surrounded by ochre sandstone mountains. Not there yet? Okay, now imagine pushing your body to its' physical limits in almost perfect weather conditions (aka sun and no humidity). Can you understand why I feel the urge to make this pilgrimage west just to take an hour yoga class? Would it help if I told you Colorado is my second happiest place on earth?
But taking just one one outdoor yoga class next summer wouldn't be enough. I also plan to return to next year's outdoor summer yoga classes, the ones available within a twenty-minute drive from my house. Hopefully every one in the posse will be there with me. Like running, a great meal, or incredible bottle of win, going to yoga is always more fun when it's a experience shared with your friends.
When you hear the word confit, one of the first words first coming to mind might be duck confit. And up until recently 'cherry tomato confit' was not in my culinary vocabulary. A word with French origins but with a Latin derivation (conficiere), confit means 'to preserve'. Used primarily as a method of preservation, the word confit could be applied to any kind of food cooked in oil or fat over a long period of time and at a low temperature. While our need to preserve foods has changed considerably over the last couple of centuries, our desire to optimize flavor might be a better characterization of food preparation in the 21st century. The flavorfulness of meats, garlic, fruits, and yes, even cherry tomatoes can be dramatically enhanced through the process of a long, slow, simmering or roasting process. With very little effort and a fair amount of time, you can create the most luxurious confits. And, with the abundance of those vine ripened cherry tomatoes now found in gardens and at Farmer's Markets, cherry tomatoes can be transformed into even sweeter, more delicate, and intensely flavorful bites of deliciousness using the methods of confit.
Ripe cherry tomatoes, garlic, fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, and some sea salt transform olive oil into liquid gold. And the olive oil, fresh herbs, sea salt and long, slow roasting process turn the cherry tomatoes into food for the gods. If you think these metaphors are simply exaggerations on my part, ones used only to encourage you to make this Cherry Tomato Confit, you would be partly mistaken. Yes, I want you to make it. But seriously I am not exaggerating. Not in the least bit.
Run, don't walk out to your garden to harvest your cherry tomatoes or to get to the next available Farmer's Market near your home to buy them. Heck drive 20 miles if you have to. There is less than two months of the summer tomato season left. Which means if you don't make this now (as in the next week) you won't be able to make it again and again in the coming weeks. And if you wait until the summer cherry tomato pickings are slim, you are going to be kicking yourself for the next eleven months for procrastinating.
It's been quite awhile since I put any of the recipes on the blog into the elusive 'last meal' category. This Cherry Tomato Confit has now been officially put on that list.
There are number of ways you can use this Cherry Tomato Confit. Here are some options: (1) Toss with pasta or spiralized zucchini, (2) Use in making Bruscetta, (3) Serve with loaf of a dense loaf of Italian or French bread, (4) Put on a cheese platter, (5) Serve as condiment with grilled meats, chicken or fish, and/or (6) Spread on top of crostini slathered in some burrata or herbed cheese. Or just eat them out of the pan or the jar. Note: The flavor of this Cherry Tomato Confit is amplified when it is warm out of the oven, warmed in the microwave or in a pan, or at room temperature.
More often than not, the time spent browsing through and/or reading cookbooks, cooking magazines, and foodblogs along with scrolling though Instagram for far too much time even I am willing to admit, has its' rewards. The recent discovery of Cherry Tomato Confit was like winning some kind of summer food lottery or finding the holy grail. This unearthing of this dish slightly lessened my guilt over my discretionary time priorities. The recipe shared below comes from a blend of multiple sources although I really have to give the inspiration credit to the Cherry Tomato Confit recipe from the foodblog ful-filled. And just as that one did for me, I hope my version of a Cherry Tomato Confit recipe inspires you.
Cherry Tomato Confit (inspired from several sources)
Ingredients
2 pounds (900g) cherry tomatoes, washed, dried, and stems removed
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
6 large cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole
6 sprigs of rosemary
8-10 sprigs of fresh thyme
Generous pinch of sea salt
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees (F).
2. Place tomatoes and garlic cloves in a large (9"x12" or 9"x13") baking pan.
3. Pour olive oil over and toss gently to coat.
4. Intersperse thyme and rosemary sprigs into the mixture, leaving some of them on top.
5. Bake for 2 hours at 250 degrees (F). Increase oven temperature to 275 degrees (F) and continue baking for 1 hour or until tomatoes look wilted but remain intact.
6. Remove from oven and remove herb sprigs.
7. Either let cool to room temperature before pouring the tomatoes, garlic and oil in tightly sealed jars and placing in the refrigerator for later use. Or use immediately. The Cherry Tomato Confit will last up 2 weeks in the refrigerator if kept property covered.
Notes: (1) Use a colorful combination of cherry tomatoes if you can find them or have them. Otherwise choose red cherry tomatoes. (2) Before using the refrigerated Cherry Tomato Confit, bring to room temperature. Alternately reheat to room temperature in the microwave on on the stove to reheat until warm. (4) To make the Pasta tossed with Cherry Tomato Confit, use 3/4 of the confit with one pound of pasta (or adjust accordingly to the amount of pasta used). In a large pan, add the cherry tomato confit to heat up. Add in the cooked pasta and cook until the sauce has coated the pasta and the entire mixture is warm-hot. Stir in 1/2 cup of grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese and keep on heat until the cheese is melted. Transfer to a large serving platter, top with additional grated and shaved cheese and fresh basil. Serve immediately.
Stormy day near the Broken Bridge, Florida Keys (July 2018)
