One of the Real Tastes of Summer – Slow Roasted Tomatoes & Fresh Oregano

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It’s Tuesday so I’m back with a brand new recipe.

One of the Real Tastes of Summer – Slow Roasted Tomatoes with Fresh Oregano

There are a few tastes that remind me of the summertime. I experienced the ultimate summer taste on Saturday morning when I was kissing the twins on their cheeks. A few minutes later I had the unmistakable taste of sun cream in my mouth and figured that I must have consumed about three grams of the stuff!

Another summertime taste is that of slow roasted tomatoes. I have a similar recipe here that is a simpler version of this but wanted to take it up a notch this summer as I have a brand new potted herb garden that I now have the use of. I’ll be sure to tell you how I put this herb garden together, it’s very simple, and hopefully will keep me going all season.

To make this most tasty of accompaniments place some vine or cherry tomatoes into a roasting tray. Drizzle with olive oil, freshly ground salt & pepper, a small sprinkling of dried garlic and three long stalks of fresh oregano. To remove the oregano leaves for the stalks run your fingers along them backwards, pulling them off one by one into your hand.

Mix all of the ingredients up using a large serving spoon. coating the tomatoes in all of the flavours. Place into a preheated oven at 140c/245f for approximately 30/40 minutes. You want the tomatoes to soften and take in all of the flavours. Not burn or become crispy in any way.

If you have some new season carrots top & tail them & add them to the tomatoes and cook with all together. They’ll soften down beautifully while retaining all of their flavour.

Eat your tomatoes with some of the more peppery salad leaf varieties such as rocket or frisee. My salad pots are doing really well and I’m super pleased with them. If you click here you can see how I made them. Looking back at how they looked when they were first planted I can really see just how much salad they’ve produced for me. I’m always walking by and picking odd leaves off to nibble on and I know that it’s saved me a whole pile of cash due to not having to buy bagged salad from the market.

Plop the tomatoes on to the salad leaves and serve as a warm starter as the bar-b-q heats up.

Or add freshly torn basil leaves and eat straight out the bowl, off the spoon, as I did immediately after taking this picture.

To make an updated version of the tricolour salad peel off a chunk of chilled mozzarella, add a salmon fillet from the bar-b-q and you’ll have one of the simplest and yet most beautiful summer suppers that one can prepare.

Off course you may just want to take your slow roasted tomatoes outside, on a plate, and crash down on to the grass for a catch up with loved ones at the end of a working day. A big sloppy plate, full of roasted tomato juice, seasonal asparagus and those carrots that I mentioned all done in the same baking tray, at the same time and at the very same temperature.

I had my jacket on as I ate this as the sun was leaving us for the day and it was chilly. But the smell in the air was too good to miss at that time of the day and it was worth getting a damp bottom in my jeans.

I love this time of year. The freedom of being able to go outdoors for hours at a time and the copious amounts of great fruit and veg that are just about to explode in to being.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a personal blog. I mentioned that I’m starting a new column on my website that documents some projects that I have been doing with my Dad. I’ll give you a proper intro to all of this tomorrow morning. I hope you’re all well and have a brilliant day. I’m continually amazed and encouraged by the people who find me and read what I write here. I can’t tell you how excited I am about the future and am pleased to have an outlet to share it.

See you in the morning.
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Cherry Menlove

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