Friday, August 10, 2012

Roasted Tomato Butter

Photos and text by KARA DiCAMILLO/ecoRI.org News contributor
When I moved into my current home one of the things I was devastated about was that I didn’t have room for a vegetable garden. The one in my previous yard was 4 feet by 6 feet, so you can imagine that it was a difficult transition. There is just something about the satisfaction of growing your own food.
Luckily, my new home has a roof over the kitchen that is flat and accessible from a window in one of the bedrooms. That’s when the idea came about: a rooftop garden! Not only is the roof the perfect size, but it’s also in the sun all day long.


This is the fourth summer that I’ve had a garden on my roof, and my tomatoes this year are flourishing. I grow a few different varieties, but one of my favorites is the Roma tomatoes. I use them mostly for sauce because they are so deliciously sweet, but they also are yummy roasted and grilled.
You can slather this roasted tomato butter on just about anything, from crusty bread to steak to corn. I used in on the corn from my CSA this week, in addition to the garlic, and the tomatoes were from my rooftop garden. You can add herbs also if you’d like, but I decided to eliminate them and let the tomatoes really be the star.
Roasted Tomato Butter
Makes about a half-cup
8 small Roma or plum tomatoes, halved
2 cloves of garlic (with skin)
3 tablespoons of olive oil

Salt
Freshly cracked pepper
Stick of unsalted butter, quartered
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Place the tomatoes and garlic on a baking sheet, drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Turn the tomatoes to evenly coat and place them in the oven to roast for two hours.
Once the garlic has cooled, peel the skin off and transfer it, and the tomatoes, into a food processor. Add the butter in addition to a teaspoon of salt. Blend the ingredients until smooth and then transfer the butter mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap. Roll the butter in the wrap and twist the corners, similar to a piece of candy. Refrigerate for two hours.