Tomato Confit

Tomato Confit has been my recent obsession. I’ve made it at least 4 times in the last month. It’s such an easy and versatile recipe. You can mix it with pasta, spread it on top of a crostini or in a sandwich, use as a dip, or drizzle over meat or fish. I made it for my family over the holidays with spaghetti and a side of garlic shrimp. This week, I mixed it with zucchini noodles for a lighter, carb-free meal and it was still so yummy! Try it!

Tomato Confit

Ingredients:

·      1 lb mixed cherry tomatoes

·      ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil

·      5-6 cloves of garlic, 2 smashed and 3 thinly sliced

·      6 sprigs of fresh thyme

·      ½ tsp salt

·      ½ tsp pepper

·      ½ tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a baking dish, spread out your tomatoes and smother with olive oil.  Throw in garlic and thyme.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and chili flakes.  Bake for 60 minutes.  In about 45 minutes, check to see if the tomatoes have blistered and popped open. If not, puncture them slightly with a fork so that the juices ooze into the olive oil. And that’s it!

If you want to try this recipe with zoodles, spiralize 3 zucchinis. 3 zucchinis should be enough for the entire above-mentioned amount of tomato confit and should serve about 3 people. However, you don’t have to use all of the tomato confit for zoodles. You may want to make 1 serving of zoodles (1 zucchini) and then save the rest of the confit for other uses. Simply store the rest of the tomato confit in a glass jar and refrigerate. To make the zoodles, lightly sautee the zucchini noodles in a pan over medium heat with extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with black pepper and salt. Drizzle a tablespoon of lemon juice. Stir thoroughly. This will only take a minute or two. Be careful not to overcook the zucchini noodles because it can get mushy. Mix the tomato confit into the zoodles.

I prefer to top these zoodles with roasted corn. Since I don’t have a grill, I char 1 corn on the cob in a frying pan with olive oil and then bake it in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Allow corn to cool and then shave off the kernels and mix into your tomato confit zoodles.

Fire-Roasted Salsa

I am obsessed with salsa.  I love it on everything—Mexican food, eggs, salad, grilled meats.  I love loading tortilla chips with so much salsa that bits of it fall off my chip before it even makes its way to my mouth!  I could just eat an entire bowl of salsa!  

I spent last night making a batch of homemade salsa because it was just one of those nights when I was craving chips and salsa for dinner.  Homemade salsa is so much better than the pre-made stuff you can get at the store.  My recipe below is pretty easy.  You can make a batch to eat immediately or jar it and save it for later in the fridge.  Warning: wash your hands thoroughly after touching the jalapeno peppers!  I accidentally touched my mouth afterwards and my lips burned for awhile!

Fire-Roasted Salsa - Mild (makes about 30oz)

Ingredients:

·      6 medium size tomatoes (6 Roma tomatoes, tomatoes on the vine are okay too), sliced into chunks

·      2 jalapeno peppers, sliced in half length-wise, deseeded and sliced

·      ½ sweet yellow onion, cut into chunks

·      1 cup of cilantro, coarsely chopped

·      3 garlic cloves, cut in half

·      1 lime (approx. 2-2.5 tbsp juice)

·      2 tsp salt

·      1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

·      ½ tsp chili powder (more if you prefer spicier)

Directions:

1.)  Preheat oven for 15 minutes.  Set on broil.

2.) Cut Roma tomatoes in half length-wise, lay face up on a baking sheet. Add de-stemmed and deseeded jalapeno peppers, onion chunks, and garlic onto the same baking sheet. Broil for about 30 minutes. You may need to remove the garlic sooner to avoid burning. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes. 

3.)  In a food processor, blend the tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, onion, cilantro, and garlic thoroughly.

4.)  Pour the mixture into a bowl. Squeeze all of the juice from 1 lime into the bowl. Add salt, black pepper, and chili powder.  Stir thoroughly. Eat immediately or jar the salsa (refrigerate or freeze) to save for later!