Roasted Tomatoes

Pretty much my entire life we've lived at least a thousand kilometres away from my family who now live in Errington. I remember every summer going out to their house in Vancouver, traveling by car all the way from Terrace. Two days in the car. Fun! (Sarcasm). Some times I even took the Greyhound. Eeps! About 10 years ago, my aunt and uncle sold their house (for cash) and moved to Errington, where they bought a blueberry farm.

Since moving to Port Alberni we've had the opportunity to see them way more often, but have found over the past two years that we're not seeing each other enough. We decided we would have brunch together, bi-weekly, and we'd take turns hosting. There's always eggs and some kind of pork product, fruit, vegetables, and something baked. And family! Everywhere! Yay!

Recently I've had the opportunity to host and I made quite a spread: zucchini and vegetable latkes, scrambled eggs, scones, sausages, and roasted tomatoes. We had two presses going full with coffee and made a pitcher of iced tea from scratch. Everything was hangover approved by yours truly, but biting into the roasted tomatoes really took the cake. I'm so happy summer's here and the vine tomatoes are actually from BC and not Mexico. And even sooner than I can bet, Rages Farm will have tomatoes at the Market (and all the local grocery stores). I see lots of these roasted tomatoes in my future (on pasta, on pizza, in a sandwich, mixed with beans on rice, and on and on).

Roasted Tomatoes

Preheat oven to 425F

You'll need vine ripened tomatoes (1 per person minimum) and 1 tbsp of olive oil per every 2 tomatoes and pepper.

Wash and quarter tomatoes. Toss with olive oil in a bowl and season to taste with pepper. Line a cookie sheet that has a lip with tin foil. Spread tomatoes on the sheet and bake for 45 minutes, dumping the juices out 1/2 way through ( you can reserve this and freeze it for a future batch of soup!). Serve alongside everything.

Note: As they cool more juices will leak out. Use a slotted spoon to serve and reserve the juice to add to your stash of stock.