Slow-Roast Tomatoes with Thyme and Mozzarella
Late summer, the sun high, the vegetable patch is filled with slow-moving bees and tiny, piercing-blue butterflies. The day stands still, baking in the sunshine. The cats lie silently on the dusty stone terrace, too hot to move. It is the day for a lunch of melting softness. I wander into the kitchen on bare feet to roast tomatoes and break open a milky, silky buffalo mozzarella.
Recipe information
Yield
enough for 4
Ingredients
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C). Remove the stalks from the tomatoes and put the fruit into a small baking dish. They should fit snugly. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and black pepper. Pull the thyme leaves from their stalks and toss with the tomatoes and seasonings. Bake until they are truly soft and collapsing—a good hour or more. Pull the mozzarella in half. Put a half on each plate and season it with olive oil and torn basil leaves. Serve the roast tomatoes alongside.
