This is a two-fer post with two entirely different recipes in one – roasted tomatoes with parmesan, garlic and herbs, and a French Dijon mustard salad dressing – although you could serve both at the same meal. Honestly, I felt that posting just a recipe for roasted tomatoes was cheating because it’s such an easy thing to make.
However, wouldn’t you agree that sometimes recipes merely serve as ideas-generators so that you have an idea of what to make for dinner?
Take 5-6 tomatoes and cut them in half. I decided to make this recipe because I needed to use up the tomatoes I had in the fridge. They were starting to wilt and would have been no good for salad or mozzarella slices. I also made this dish because I had been craving the garlic-tomato-olive oil component.
Pre-heat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Then crush two medium-sized cloves of garlic and mix it with a half-cup parmesan. You’ll also need 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and herbs.
Now for the herbs, I thought it would be fun to try thyme, oregano, basil, and a parsley mix (that includes dried shallots). So that’s what I did.
Here’s what I found. The thyme is a little strong and reminds me of summer and Provence. If you want that pungent taste, then you’ll like it. The oregano tastes like eating pizza without the carbs, which is not a bad thing. The basil and parsley mix both taste good, and I would recommend one or the other if you want more of a traditional taste for your roasted tomatoes.
I salted the tomato halves and sprinkled them all with pepper, but I didn’t measure either. However, I did measure the 2 tablespoons of olive oil that I poured over the 10 tomatoes halves. If you’re trying to cut down on oil, I think you could get away with just one.
Sprinkle the top with the crushed garlic and parmesan mixture and put it in the oven for 10 minutes. I don’t trust my grill function, so I put it in a regular oven but placed the tray near the top. (I need to get my oven looked at. The convection part doesn’t work anymore, which makes baking difficult, especially for pastries).
After ten minutes, they’re ready to eat. You can leave them in for 5 additional minutes if you want the tomatoes really cooked. I tried it both ways, but honestly I didn’t think the extra 5 minutes made a huge difference.
After 10 minutes
After 15 minutes.
About to go in my belly… (ha)
Yuuuuum! They were as good as they look. And because this was an embarrassingly simple blog post, I decided to create a bonus little video on how to make the yummiest salad dressing ever. Did you know the French eat salad pretty much every day at the end of a meal? It’s served before – or at the same time as – the cheese platter.
Here’s the video! You can hear me say the word “beautiful” one time too many. I think I was craving salad or something.
And that’s it for this week, friends. I’m chugging along with writing my Regency Christmas novella that I’m going to give away for free to my author newsletter subscribers. The snow outside is certainly helping to set the mood. As soon as I hit post, that’s what I’m going to be doing. I hope wherever you are, your home is warm and your heart (and table) full.
