Last tomatoes: roast 'em

I was going to make tomato jam, but the idea of peeling all of the tomatoes that I bought from Erin Smith at the Hopkins Farmers Market on Saturday stopped me in my tracks. Fortunately, I had a better idea, and I roasted them in two large batches, the easiest thing in the world. Think duxelles (minced mushrooms cooked down to their essence), and know with a tiny amount of work, you will have the essence of tomatoes in a dish.

Chopped with garlic and chili

Roasted with a blackened chili

My first introduction to roasted tomatoes came from the late-but-never forgotten Laurie Colwin, who wrote rhapsodically about them in More Home Cooking. I use winter tomatoes and make it often.

Roasting large batches of tomatoes can take 3 hours. Settle in near your oven so that you can stir every 30 minutes or so. You'll know when your batch is finished when the tomatoes have gone from bright and juicy to dark and jammy.

Easy Peasy Roasted Tomatoes

Fresh tomatoes: chop up as many has you have
Fresh Garlic: 3-5 fat cloves
Dried Chili: As much or as little as you like
Fresh Ground Pepper: 1-2 tsp
Optional: 1/2 finely chopped onion (which I forgot yesterday)
Optional: any amount of thin sliced fresh sweet or hot peppers
1/4 cup oil (I like canola; olive oil lovers, have at it!)

Oven temp: I have a convection oven option, and I started at 450 for about 45 minutes, and then reduced the heat to 325.)

1. Pre-heat the oil in your largest heavy shallow roasting pan. Unless you want to clean your oven, do not use a rimmed baking sheet. 
2. Add the tomatoes, garlic, chili and (optional) onion and pepper.
3. Roast for three hours, stirring every 30 minutes.

If you can resist eating this all at once, it will freeze nicely for 3 months.

Toffee Waffles - what every waffle cone wants to be

Toffee Waffles: $5/four

If you have ever eaten waffle cones out of the box, Toffee Waffles will validate your suspicion that there might be a Really Amazing Member of the Waffle Cone Family out there somewhere. I found them yesterday at the Hopkins (MN) Farmers Market. Proper People's Toffee Waffles are what every waffle cone ever made wanted to be when it grew up.

These crisp and gooey treats are a perfect marriage of all of the food groups: flour, butter, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla, much of which is locally sourced in Minnesota: Swany White Flour Mills (organic unbleached flour); Hope Creamery (churned butter), Larry Schultz Organic Farm (eggs), Hastings Co-op Creamery (hormone-free milk and butter).

If you can bear to wait until you have a cup of coffee in your hand, one of Toffee Waffle's  highest and best uses is to sit on top of a hot cup of coffee until the center softens. Then, and only then, do you eat your Toffee Waffle. Bet you can't wait!