I love making this recipe because I usually have some tomato confit stored in the fridge. It’s easy to make, it only takes some time and when you have enough in the fridge it can literally go over anything! Pasta, toast, or rice.
What is confit anyway? According to Wikipedia, confit is a cooking term that describes when food is cooked in fat (oil) or sugar water (syrup), at a lower temperature, as opposed to deep-frying. While deep frying typically takes place at temperatures of 160–230 °C (325–450 °F), confit preparations are done at a much lower temperature, such as an oil temperature of around 90 °C (200 °F).
The term is usually used in modern cuisine to mean long slow cooking in oil or fat at low temperatures, many having no element of preservation, such as in dishes like confit potatoes.
Tomato Confit Pasta recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups of olive oil
- 1 head of garlic, cut in half
- 1lb cherry tomatoes
- 1 tsp pinch of salt
- 1 tsp pinch of fresh cracked pepper
- An herb bundle with: 1 bay leaf, thyme, and rosemary
Method
Preheat oven to 250°F/121C. Add the tomatoes to a cast-iron skillet, on a rimmed baking sheet. Add oil, salt, pepper, and garlic; toss gently to coat. Tuck herb bundle into the mixture. Bake at 250°F/121C until tomatoes are just wilted. Some will not have burst. About 2 hours.
Cool tomato mixture to room temperature; discard the herb bundle. Toss with your favorite pasta, cover with cheese and parsley.
You can also store tomatoes with oil and accumulated pan juices in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks, or freeze up to 3 months.
