Yes, We Have No……Tomatoes.

Hard to make a bowl of roasted tomatoes look good. You just have to trust me 😀

 

When I was a kid, I was allergic to tomatoes. I was also allergic to strawberries which back then, bothered me a great deal more than the tomatoes, even if tomatoes ARE a fruit. You try being a little kid and not allowed a peanut butter and strawberry preserves sandwich. *sobs piteously* I guess I must have outgrown that one fairly young though because I remember eating strawberry things in my childhood. Oh well… moving on. Tomatoes. Allergy. Hives. Itch. Ouch. Mom!

The tomato thing lasted into early adulthood then just disappeared as childhood food allergies can sometimes do. It didn’t hurt that I didn’t really like tomatoes anyway other than ketchup which didn’t seem to bother me. It was only raw maters and I was happy without them. Such a young stupid pup I was. I think growing up in Chicago the tomatoes I had were hard store bought rocks so I thought they all tasted like that. This was before the day of farmers markets in cities, of CSA’s, Heirloom tomatoes, etc etc etc. If you didn’t live in the country and/or grow your own, you got pale pinkish rocks for tomatoes. End of discussion.

As I grew older and started cooking more outside my comfort zone, I was forced by the circumstances of cooking to try tomatoes. Surprise surprise (please use a Gomer Pyle voice when you say that; it’s much more fun), I liked them. Still not the type to really pick up a tomato and salt it and eat it (though I get in the mood at times) but I love to grow them, I love to cook with them and I love to eat them in salads and other ways. But my favorite way to eat plain tomatoes is oven roasted. I love love love them. Did I mention that I love them? I have kind of given a condensed version of this recipe in This Post but it was tucked into a separate recipe so I wanted to give it by itself. The recipe being, btw, oven roasted tomatoes. These are soooooo delicious made this way. The flavor is concentrated but they aren’t as chewy as sun dried which means they make a good accompaniment to things like sandwiches and salads. You can eat them without trying to take a bite and having the whole piece of tomato pull out BECAUSE they aren’t so chewy. They are also extremely simple. If you can slice a tomato and turn on an oven, you can make these. The possibilities for uses are endless. Where ever you would use sun dried maters, you can use these yet you can use them MORE places because, as I mentioned (because I’m repetitive like that) they aren’t so darned chewy. They are yummy just eaten out of hand…erhmmm… bowl… and you can’t get much healthier snack wise than something like this.

Oven Roasted Herbed Tomatoes

  • 1 pound Roma (Plum) tomatoes, sliced in 1/4 inch slices (You can of course use more or less tomatoes. I tend to do them about a pound at a time.)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons McCormick Grill Mates Garlic and Onion Medley Seasoning (don’t use garlic and onion powders. Part of the tastiness of this comes from the caramelized pieces of garlic and onion)
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed Rosemary
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. Line a 13×9 inch baking sheet with foil (trust me… use the foil.)
  3. In a large bowl, CAREFULLY toss the sliced tomatoes with the olive oil.
  4. Put the tomatoes in a single layer on the baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with the garlic/onion medley and the rosemary.
  • I had some cherry & grape tomatoes I needed to use so I just tossed them in there too.
   5. Roast the maters at 325 degrees until they are slightly shriveled (remember; we’re not going for the tough chewiness of sun dried or many hours of 200 or so degree heat like some oven roasted tomatoes. These will still be soft and pliable.) but still moist, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. You’ll end up with a sheet of this-
6. Let cool and then transfer them to your mouth a bowl. Store covered in the fridge.
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15 thoughts on “Yes, We Have No……Tomatoes.

  1. Looks yummy. I cannot eat them raw. I think I have a mild allergy to them. When I cut them for hubs or pick them I break out and get itchy. But I can eat ketchup and tomato sauce. Go figure. This looks delish. My hubs would go bonkers over this one. Still have family visiting so snuck off to peek in on a few blogs. lol

  2. You know, I can’t eat peanut butter sandwiches unless they are just peanut butter and bread. I never did like them with preserves or jelly and still don’t. At Girl Scout camp, they had the premixed peanut butter/grape jelly spread, and I couldn’t eat it. Made the counselors crazy!

  3. Hi Janet! These are wonderful! I wasn’t allergic to tomatoes as a kid….just never exposed to them. My father didn’t like them, so we didn’t have them. I can’t get enough now! Like you, I like oven roasted tomatoes about any way you want to serve them! Great post (and FUNNY!)

  4. Wow, I have never heard of a tomato allergy, I’m so glad they can be grown out of. I thought I didn’t like tomatoes until my late teens. I was missing out for a long time. Your roasted tomatoes sound delicious!

  5. I always look forward to your witty posts! (Gomer Pyle voice and all!)
    I love tomatoes this way. They are great just tossed with a little pasta, olive oil, and Parmesan.

  6. Tomato allergy? Wow, how very interesting….haven’t heard of that. This looks rather wonderful and I hope I have the time to try it sometime very soon!

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