Grilled tomatoes...

 

So we are in a new year, leaving 2020 behind, looking forward to going back to normal life. Many have labeled 2020 as the worst year of all, but was it really? Personally it was as shocking as it could be. Losing my mother just 5 days before her birthday and that too all of a sudden. It was devastating for us. But life goes on and we all find a way to survive. I picked up my camera, started taking photos and I decided to blog again. I don’t want to label the past year as the most dreadful or horrible but I take it as a learning of my lifetime. Happiness does not come from getting everything you want in life. Happiness is a choice, nothing will make you happy unless you decide to be happy. The pain, the emptiness will be always there but doing what I love most is something that makes me happy and a better person, and there is no bigger happiness than seeing the seeds that you’ve sown grow into lush green plants and find its stems pouring with bright orange cherry tomatoes. 

If you follow me on Instagram, you already know about these homegrown cherry tomatoes. I love to grow my own herbs, like mint, basils, curry leaves etc., but I’ve never tried growing vegetables. This year we decided to grow some vegetables too. Thanks to the men of the house, my father and my husband, what a wonderful harvest we are getting! These golden cherry tomatoes are simply delicious, tangy, juicy and perfectly go with fresh homemade breads. I used the tomatoes to make curries and also had it in our sandwiches but there were more than we could eat. So I decided to grill the cherry tomatoes and preserve them in olive oil.

Making grilled tomatoes are super easy. You can use any type of tomatoes, preferably seasonal and fresh. I mixed some red and green tomatoes along with these home grown cherry tomatoes while grilling. Added  a few cloves of garlic and dried herbs, with a drizzle of olive oil and grilled the sliced tomatoes in the oven. The process of making grilled tomatoes are very simple and quick. 

Ingredients to make Grilled Tomatoes:

• Tomatoes: 2 cups
• Few cloves of garlic: 10-12
• Dried rosemary: 1 tsp
• Dried parsley: 1tsp
• Salt to taste 
• Olive oil to drizzle + to preserve

Steps of making Grilled Tomatoes:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 C or 400 F.
2. Wash and pat dry the tomatoes. If the tomatoes are large then slice them into thick slices. For cherry tomatoes cut into halves.
3. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and lay the sliced or halved tomatoes into a single layer along with the cloves of garlic. Sprinkle dried herbs, salt and olive oil.
4. Place the baking tray into the oven and grill the tomatoes till brown spots appear. 
5. Let the tomatoes cool down. Take a clean dry glass jar with a lid and place the grilled tomatoes in the glass jar and pour olive oil in it. Store the jar in the refrigerator.

These tangy sweet grilled tomatoes tastes great on a slice of toasted bread or along with pasta. We tried it with freshly baked pizza too and loved it. Do try and let me know.

Wishing all a very happy and healthy new year.

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