"Do you want the whole thing?" the clerk at the checkout stand asked my wife. He asked in French, I suppose becasue we were in Paris.
Suzi nodded yes. He said ten euros so we paid $11.35 for 2.2 pounds of cherry tomatoes. That's about double the price here in Manhattan. Food in Paris is expensive, whether in restaurants or in markets. Still, these cherry tomatoes, like all the produce in the store, was absolutely, miraculously perfect. Every tomato was ideally ripe, blemish free, and quite uniform in color.
How do we eat cherry tomatoes? Raw out of the box, of course, In Paris, Suzi served them in a nicoise salad with lovely, and equally pricey, lettuce and onions. Still, it was Paris so really we did not care.We did enjoy.
For her cooking school in Manhattan, Suzi buys cherry tomatoes by the case. For appetizers, sauces and salads, they are a master component. But what do to at the end of the week if you have ordered extra and you have a tomato surplus? It's a sin to waste them and it turns out to be be very easy to avoid sin.
Preheat your oven to 350 dgrees. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil — very important unless you like clearning sticky pans. Spread the tomatoes over the pan, dust with salt and pepper, and dribble on a liberal amount of olive oil. Sometimes Suzi slices the tomatoes in half, sometimes not. Which is why this post ends with two photos of roasted tomatoes, whole and halved. You can stay with one color or mix and match the red and yellow.
And, before you bake, you can sprinkle on a modest ration of red pepper flakes, too. Or adorn with sprigs of your favorite herbs.
Then, just pop them in the oven and let them cook for 20-30 minutes.
When they are out, you are ready for multiple uses. You can add them to a sauce, put them in a food processor to make a sauce, or just ladle them over cooked pasta. The choice is yours.
