Slow-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes With Basil Oil

By Martha Rose Shulman

Updated Aug. 12, 2024

Slow-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes With Basil Oil
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
1 hour 10 minutes
Cook Time
45 minutes
Rating
5(340)
Comments
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When you roast cherry tomatoes, they caramelize and become even sweeter. This dish was inspired by a huge pile of roasted red and yellow cherry tomatoes that a friend served at a dinner party recently; they were drizzled with diluted pesto and placed alongside a luxurious mound of burrata. You can serve these as an appetizer (have napkins close by) or side dish, or tossed with pasta. You can easily multiply this recipe, but you won’t have to use much more olive oil to coat the tomatoes. This gorgeous emerald-colored oil is a condiment that you can keep in your refrigerator for up to a week. Keep it in a squeeze bottle, and drizzle it over tomatoes, fish, chicken or other vegetables. It looks beautiful on a white plate, and a little goes a long way.

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Ingredients

Yield:Serves 8 to 10 as an hors d’oeuvre

    For the Tomatoes

    • 2baskets sweet cherry tomatoes (can use a mixture of colors)
    • Salt to taste
    • A couple of pinches of sugar
    • 3tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    • About 1 tablespoon basil olive oil (see below)

    For the Basil Oil

    • Salt to taste
    • 2cups basil
    • ½cup extra virgin olive oil
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)

145 calories; 16 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 12 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 0 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 0 grams protein; 57 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Place the tomatoes in a baking dish large enough to fit them in a single layer. Add the salt and sugar, and toss together. Add the regular olive oil, and toss again. Place in the oven for 45 minutes until the skins have shriveled and just split; the tomatoes should still be still intact. Remove from the heat, and allow to cool.

  2. Step 2

    Bring a pot of water to a boil, and salt generously. Fill a medium bowl with ice water. Place the basil in the boiling water, and blanch for 15 seconds. Remove with a skimmer, and transfer to the ice water. Drain and squeeze out excess water, then place on a clean dish towel and again squeeze out as much water as you can. Place in a blender with the olive oil. Blend one to two minutes until the olive oil is green and tinged with flecks of basil. Transfer to a squeeze bottle, and refrigerate.

  3. Step 3

    Arrange the tomatoes on a platter. Drizzle the bright green basil oil decoratively around and over them, and pour on any juices from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Tip
  • Advance preparation: You can make these tomatoes several hours ahead of serving. They will keep overnight in the refrigerator.

Ratings

5 out of 5
340 user ratings
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Comments

Figaro

I use grape tomatoes for this since they're sweeter. I like to put some crushed red peppers in with the tomatoes while they are baking. They are really wonderful with small-medium pasta. Garnish with Percorino Romano or Ricotta Salata.

dimmerswitch

Made per recipe but without the addition of the basil oil because I was using this as a side for Melissa Clark's Baked Cheesy Wild Mushroom Casserole. Easy technique and good outcome even if you don't want the basil oil included. I think the little bit of sugar with the salt in this recipe intensifies tomato flavor. Drizzled the juices from roasted tomatoes over them after arranging them on serving platter. Made these a couple of hours ahead and they were delicious room temperature.

Joan Abnett

I also used grape tomatoes, found the slow cooking (much slower than I usually do) was ideal as the little tomatoes do not burst. Lovely flavours.

Vicki

Made this as described in the recipe and served it over pasta. Delicious way to use the abundance of cherry tomatoes from my garden.

Esther

Delicious! I served it over pasta with burrata. Make sure to adequately salt the pasta water and put fresh ground pepper on top.

edmund mander

What is a basket? The tomatoes I get come either from the garden or in little plastic containers of various sizes in the supermarket. Never seen them in baskets.

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