Vesuvius Tomatoes

At Costco last weekend, we bought a gorgeous box of Campari tomatoes. They were beautifully red and plump on their vines, and we couldn't wait to use them. Unfortunately one week later (since we spent so much of the week trying to finish our stash of kale), we still had over half a box of tomatoes left, so we had to finish them off for part of tonight's dinner before they went bad. I wanted to try something new, and wasn't in the mood for yet another salad.

I love tomatoes on the vine!

I found a recipe on Epicurious for Vesuvius Tomatoes, a stewed tomato dish published in Bon Appetit in 1996, and based on a dish at the Rialto in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It sounded tasty and simple to prepare, so I immediately got to work. I made a few modifications to the recipe as I went along, but the published recipe was a good foundation to work from.

Ingredients

- Olive oil (1-2 tbsp for sauteing the onions, 1/4-1/2 cup for the roasting), $0.15

- Half of a large yellow onion, finely chopped in long slices, $0.27

- About 15 Campari tomatoes, quartered, $3.37

- 6 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped, $0.09

- 12 basil leaves, cut into thin strips, $0.05

- A few sprigs of fresh thyme, $0.42

- 1/2 tsp salt, $0.01

- 1/2 tsp sugar, $0.05

- 1/2 tsp dried crushed red pepper, $0.01

- 1/2 tsp dried thyme, $0.05

- 1/2 tsp dried basil, $0.05

The total cost was about $4.50, and the vast majority of that cost was the price of the tomatoes. So if you're in an area where you can get more affordable tomatoes (and the Campari price at Costco was pretty decent), the cost might be even less.

Process

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and saute onions until tender (8-10 minutes). The other ingredients can be prepped while the onions are sauteing. Also, preheat the oven to 250-275 degrees (see note in #3).

2. In a roasting pan, place tomatoes in a single layer. Add sauteed onions, remaining olive oil, garlic, basil, thyme, salt, sugar, and crushed red pepper. Toss all ingredients together in the pan.

3. Place pan in the oven and roast until tomatoes are tender but not falling apart. Stir occasionally (I stirred every 1/2 hour or so). The entire process should take about 2 hours at 250. It took us about 1.5 hours at 275. The only reason I had to do it at 275 instead was that it was late and I hadn't noticed the recipe took 2 hours when I chose it. So be prepared - this is an easy recipe to make but give yourself plenty of time to roast! 275 was fine, but I don't think I would set the temperature any higher to get it done quicker because the slow roasting is really what you want.

Tomatoes after ~30 minutes

Tomatoes after ~60 minutes

Tomatoes after ~90 minutes

Done!

Review

This dish was delicious. We ate this on top of some farro, but think this would make a really great sauce on top of pasta. It might take a couple of hours to roast, but it's definitely worth it. The slow roasting makes the tomatoes so soft and infuses them with all the garlic and herbs. Definitely a recipe we would try again!