Cooking can occasionally be a humbling experience; gardening is regularly so. Things don’t sprout. Critters raid the goodies. Disease undermines plant health. Too much water. Too little water. There’s only so much a gardener can do.
My garden’s tomato season has been sketchy at best, thanks to a marauding band of squirrels who filched all *all* of the early Beefsteaks right off the vine, and a nasty case of Septoria Leaf Wilt that’s spread virulently through the plants, crippling their foliage and reducing yield.
About a month ago, I found some of those last-ditch tomato plants at a garden center, and stuck them in the ground and in pots. The ones I planted outside the garden, closer to the house, are thriving. (Those I planted in the garden are likewise affected by the wilt.)
All of which is to say that I’m just now getting Sun Gold cherry tomatoes. A lot of them. And so I’m making this: Oven-Dried Cherry Tomato Pesto. So easy and so delicious.
What do you do with Oven-Dried Cherry Tomato Pesto? It’s great on pasta and in pasta salads. Great spread over grilled fish. Great on turkey sandwiches, grilled cheese or BLTs. Great spooned over sliced tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.
Make a couple of batches of this, transfer it to a small plastic container and pop it in the freezer; it’ll keep for up to 1 year. You’ll have that bright burst of sunshiny tomato flavor all year long.
oven-dried cherry tomato pesto recipe
makes about 1 cup
1 pint red/orange/yellow cherry tomatoes (it's fine to use overripe or blemished ones), halved
1 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 Tbsp. dry-toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup good olive oil
Salt & pepper
Preheat oven to 250°. Place a sheet of foil on a baking sheet; smear the foil lightly with olive oil. Arrange the cherry tomatoes, cut-side up, on the sheet. Sprinkle with a generous pinch of coarse salt. Roast the tomatoes for at least 2 hours, up to 3, until they shrivel up and smell sweetly toasted. Remove from oven and cool. Place the tomatoes, basil, pine nuts and garlic in a food processor; pulse repeatedly until the mixture is mashed up into a coarse paste. Add olive oil; pulse to combine well. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
