Roasted San Marzano Tomatoes on Burrata

Monday, March 16, 2015
Since the beginning of time (AKA 1990) or at least since I can remember, I have always had a love affair with tomatoes. I remember having a book about a little girl that only ate tomato sauce, and I thought the story must have been written about me. 

Tomatoes are still my main food group. That includes; tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato ketchup, tomato soup and tomato salsa. The problem with this though, is there really isn't a large time frame of acceptable quality tomatoes through out the year, because let's face it, an out of season tomato deserves to be booed off stage and a rotten tomato in the face. 

What do I do with myself all year, you ask? There is a little bit of an antidote for the yearly withdrawal symptoms I and so many others with my blood type (I genuinely believe it's in my genes to NEED tomatoes) suffer from. Canned tomatoes can actually be a pretty decent sauce source of your tomato dose, when there's nothing but a mealy tomato from Guadalajara in your refrigerator drawer. The important thing to remember is that if it wasn't a great tomato to start with it's not going to be satisfactory after it's been sitting in a can for 6 months. The other thing to make sure is that it is exactly what is says on the tin, and nothing else, whole (not chopped), no added sugar, salt or anything else weird they put it in there to flavour it up - ask yourself why they would need to flavour it up if it's a good quality tomato? If it was picked at the right time and the right place, you're in luck. I love the San Marzanos, but any legitimate Italian brand should make the cut, preferably one that says 'D.O.P' (Denominazione d' Origine Protetta roughly, "protected designation of origin") obviously on the can, since Italians care about their tomatoes like it's their religion. 

These roasted tomatoes could partner perfectly with almost anything; pasta, a good piece of olive-oiled and sea-salted bread or even blended into a tomato soup, but I can't think of anything they compliment better than a good quality Burrata and I highly recommend you try it that way. 









Roasted San Marzano Tomatoes 
on Burrata 

Serves 2-4 

YOU WILL NEED:

1 800G CAN OF GOOD QUALITY TOMATOES
2 CLOVES GARLIC, WHOLE
GOOD QUALITY OLIVE OIL
SEA SALT AND PEPPER
FRESH BASIL LEAVES 

 200-300G BURRATA 

Pre-heat your oven to 200C or 400F. 

Drain the tomatoes from it's surrounding liquid* and place the garlic cloves and tomatoes whole on a lined baking tray, drizzled with a good amount (1.5-2 tablespoons) of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt and pepper.

Roast the tomatoes for 45 - 1 hour or until they're slightly blackened and have turn a deeper red colour. 

Spread your Burrata on a plate of your choice, top with the tomatoes and drizzle with the leftover olive oil from the baking tray, a pinch of sea salt and pepper and some fresh basil leaves.

Enjoy!


*Save the liquid for a quick, no lump, tomato sauce- saute a clove or two of garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil, add the tomato liquid, simmer for 10 minutes or so and add a good pinch of salt, a teaspoon of sugar and some fresh basil and serve with a pasta of your choice)!