Tomato Confit, By Me!

tomatos, pre-roasting and confit-ing

Way back in October, I devoted a night and a day to creating and canning tomato confit (roasted tomatos preserved in olive oil), following the instructions of fellow foodblogger Chez Pim. I will admit, though I'd made my way through multiple batches of jam, I was a bit concerned about the botchulism potential of canning tomatos in a boiling water bath (some nervous nellies argue for a pressure cooker).

However, subscribing to the belief that if my canned tomatos were really full of poison, I'd know by the look and the smell, I sent off many jars at Christmas to some coworkers. And since they've eaten them and have not dropped dead, I've decided it's safe to open the cans I saved at home. Boy am I glad I did--these suckers are sweet and delicious. The slow overnight roast in a low, low oven concentrated everything good in a end of summer tomato. I highly encourage you to consider doing this as soon as the 2007 tomatos roll in--it's wonderful to pop open a jar of these and know that you made them yourself, and I imagine if I lived somewhere cold I'd appreciate it even more!

My favorite use so far was mixing them with some pesto, then spreading the sauce on homemade pizza dough, topped with mozzarella, bell peppers and mushrooms. Be sure to use the oil in the jars as well, it's perfumed with sweet tomato smell and the scent of the marjoram and thyme sprigs I tucked in each jar.