Slow roasted cherry tomatoes with garlic slices, ready for preserving.

If you are wondering what to do with all those extra cherry tomatoes from the garden, one option is to slow roast them in the oven with a little garlic. The extra sweet nature of cherry tomatoes make these a terrific addition to sauces and soups during those long winter months. They also taste great over top of a little garlic bread for a quick appetizer.

The process is very easy. Spread a small amount of olive oil on a cookie sheet. Clean and half some cherry tomatoes, the ones above are a mix of sweet red and Sungold orange, but any type of small tomato will do. Add some slices of garlic, sliced thick or you can even leave them whole if you are in a hurry. Drizzle a little more olive oil (not too much, they do not need to be drenched), salt & pepper. Mix and spread evenly over the pan.

Slow roast in a 300F oven for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Once they are finished, remove roasted tomatoes from oven and transfer to sterilized jars or plastic containers for freezing. I now freeze everything in mason jars rather than plastic. I don’t like how plastic retains the colour and flavour of foods, glass can be sterilized and mason jars last forever. Just sterilize clean jars ahead of time either by filling with boiling water or if you are doing a lot of jars, sterilize in a 250F oven for 15-20 minutes. When you remove the jars from the freezer, just thaw slowly. Be careful about using the microwave — thaw on defrost to avoid cracking the jar from the hot inside edges. Since I usually know what I am going to use, I just transfer a jar to the fridge ahead of time.