Tomatoes may not be summer-ready here in the Midwest, but there’s no shortage of beautiful ones in the grocery store, perhaps coming in from California. I picked up some beautiful Roma variety, ripening them on the counter for several days before roasting.

Beautiful roasted tomato on tray 600

After roasting, I really wasn’t sure what exactly I waould even use them for, but I knew they would be beautiful and delicious.

roasted tomatoes up close

After oven-roasting (they can also be grilled, too, using the recipe below), they’re wonderful when pureed to make a simple pasta or pizza sauce, or just threw them on top of other vegetable mixes, in cooked rice or pasta, on top of meat or fish. You can really do whatever you like with them.

Here’s how to get them beautifully roasted in the oven:

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Ingredients

7 Roma tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste

1-2 tablespoons dried parsley

1 teaspoon dried basil

good quality olive oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Cut each tomatoe in half and place them face up on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Add salt, dried parsley and dried basil (as well as any other herbs you enjoy) to each tomato half.

Drizzle the tomaotes generously with olive oil.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and process according to the recipe you will use it in.