Saturday, July 5, 2014

French Friday with Dorie - Tomatoes Provençal


Today´s recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group is "Tomatoes Provençal“. This recipe for oven-roasted tomatoes with an assortment of fresh herbs, garlic and olive oil  is the height of simplicity – with good ingredients, not much more needs doing. I think there is no arguing the fact that oven-roasted tomatoes take on an intensely deep flavor after roasting.




I love the idea that you can just season a dish of vegetables then leave it in the oven to get on with things by itself. As tomatoes are so abundantly available during the months of June, July and August, these roast tomatoes, or a very similar recipe, make a regular appearance in my kitchen throughout the summer.




All you need for this recipe are ripe tomatoes but do not use beefsteaks – for today´s dish  I used an assortment of red, orange, yellow, and green zebra tomatoes. We think that the different colored tomatoes are not only a feast for the eyes, they do in fact taste differently.




There are countless recipes for Tomatoes Provençal available and just last week we prepared some Honey-roasted Tomatoes for the Cottage Cooking Club. For Dorie Greenspan´s easy recipe, other than the tomatoes, all you need is some nice sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, two garlic cloves, and some freshly chopped herbs. I used a few bushy sprigs of thyme, rosemary and oregano from my garden, and, of course, a mild olive oil.

If you like your garlic to be less pungent, it is best to use the new season garlic here, the one that has no papery skins yet and together with a bit of salt grind it into a paste using the back of your knife, before adding it to the olive oil.




Pre-heat your oven, slice the tomatoes in half and lay them cut-side up in a shallow baking dish or roasting pan. Remove the thyme, rosemary and oregano leaves from their stems and put them in a small mixing bowl with the olive oil. Peel and finely crush the garlic cloves and stir into the olive oil with a generous grinding of sea salt and black pepper. Spoon over the tomatoes and bake for about 40 to 60 minutes or until the tomatoes are tender and slightly shrivelled.




Oven-roasted tomatoes have a deliciously concentrated flavor and a wonderful texture and can be used in many different ways.




Today marks the last day of school for the kids - six weeks of holidays. Therefore, for today´s post and as a summer starter,  I decided to serve the sweet Tomatoes Provençal with my newly-found favorite veg of the summer, broad beans, then slightly salty feta cheese on top of a few slices of grilled Ciabatta. Summertime is wonderful.




To see how much the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group enjoyed this recipe, please go here.




If you happen to own Dorie Greenspan´s "Around my French Table", you will find the recipe for the „Tomatoes Provençal“ on pages 344-5.



36 comments:

  1. Those look delicious! Perfect with fresh tomatoes :)

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    1. Thank you, June Baby! No leftovers, simply delicious summer fare!

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  2. Looks amazing! What a wonderful idea to mix up the colors. It really does look like a feast for the eyes, though, one which I would rather eat than look at:-) Here's wishing you and your children a lovely summer holiday. I think that it starts a litter later here in Hessen

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    1. Rose, indeed the State of Hessen summer holidays start on 28.07. until 05.09. - later than the ones here. We are a wee bit early this year. So, time to roll up those sleeves and get busy with the kids.

      The tomatoes were an absolute delight and the recipe was a joy to prepare and play around with! Thank you for your kind words!

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  3. Wonderful photos, wonderful and très Provençal summer food!

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    1. What a kind comment, I take that as a huge compliment coming from you! Merci beaucoup chère Cuisine de Provence!

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  4. Simply gorgeous! I could happily live on this!! such a perfect recipe for summer, the tomatoes in our garden are just starting to pop!
    Mary

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    1. Mary, same here - who needs anything else if you can munch on grilled Ciabatta, with lovely sweet oven-roasted tomatoes, slightly salty feta and sweet and creamy broad beans?! Thank you for the kind comment, Mary!

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  5. Pretty Awesome TP you got there! I served my TP as topping (in place of sauce) for DH's pasta dinner with grilled cod fish and brocoli!

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    1. Emily, thank you for the nice comment! Pasta sauce with tomatoes provencal sounds nice too.

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  6. Hi Andrea, such a lovely dish, this is what summer is all about. So nice your children are out of school for 6 weeks of holiday!

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    1. Cheri, indeed, tomatoes are what summer is all about - the summer holidays around here are not as lonng as they are in North America but six weeks are nice.

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  7. Oh, wow, how terrific to use these tomatoes over bread with broadbeans and feta! Now that would make a terrific lunch! Enjoy the holidays with your children!!!

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    1. Liz, it was a terrific lunch and a nice way to use the provencal tomatoes. Thank you for stopping by!

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  8. Hi Andrea, how are you? :)
    I really like this recipe, so simple yet so delicious! Enjoy your summertime!
    Viele liebe Grüße aus München,
    Inês

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    1. Inês, from your blog posts I can see that you are doing rather well in very lovely München - you cook and bake up a storm - good, glad that you are feeling comfortable in your kitchen and happy in Bavaria! Summer vacation has started for the kids and six weeks lie ahead of us...we shall see how that goes.
      Liebe Grüße nach München,
      Andrea

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  9. Your beautiful tomatoes look delicious. I must remember to use different colors next time. The starter you created looks great. Everything taste better with bread.

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    1. Diane, different colors are good and they are indeed quite nice to look at - since there are also differences in taste between the red, yellow, orange and green zebra tomatoes, I try to use a variety whenever I can. Thank you for the comment - your 4th of July spread looked very inviting.

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  10. I love that you used so many different varieties of tomatoes - they look so pretty.

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    1. Gaye, very kind of you - different varities of tomatoes such a nice option these days and I am quite grateful for that!

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  11. such a burst of colorful tomatoes...and a light,delicately flavored dish....the very essence of cooking during summers.....and they would taste delicious as a bruschetta with some fresh edamame....thanks :-)

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    1. Kumar, that is summer cooking allright - isn´t summer produce just the best?! No doubt in my mind that we all love to use the wealth of fresh veg available at this time of year.

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  12. These are so beautiful, my dear friend! Mark and I agree with you - the taste of the tomatoes is so different and it is fun to have a variety. The colors are like those in a stained glass window. I also love that you served them as crostini! Yum! Ganz liebe Grüße aus Tucson! ~ David

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    1. Lieber David, thank you kindly for your wonderful comment - the oven-roasted tomatoes as a topping for grilled Ciabatta, along with fresh and creamy broad beans and delightfully salty feta were quite good...they were gone in a flash and I have been asked to prepare them again a.s.a.p. which should not be a problem as tomatoes are sooo abundantly available these days.
      Dir und Mark noch einen schönen Sonntag,
      andrea

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  13. If only I could reach through the computer screen with a folk…your tomatoes topped with the broad beans look so enticing.

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    1. Karen, thank you for stopping by - glad that you enjoy the way the Provencal Tomatoes together with braod beans and feta look as a topping for the grilled Ciabatta.

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  14. Your tomatoes on ciabatta looks like a perfect summer meal. (And how nice to use so many pretty colors.)

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    1. Cher, and a perfect summer starter it was - thank you.

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  15. A wonderful use of tomatoes, I love the different colours. My husband won't eat tomatoes unless they are cooked and chopped up very small which is very frustrating for me as I love tomatoes.

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    1. Karen, different colored tomatoes, different tastes - love the abundancy and versatility of tomatoes at this time of year - no tomatoes "unless they are chopped up finely" - well, then I count myself very lucky because I serve tomatoes almost seven days a week, sometimes for breakfast or lunch or dinner. And my darling family, including myself, never tire of eating them. Thank you for your comment - loved your wedding cake pictures (amazing).

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  16. First, Andrea, it's surprising you've never made a Black Forest Cake and I look forward to your Post about that. (( searched and figured you hadn't written it up yet or the Munchkins ate it all before you could get photos.) Don't worry anymore about your ability to write brilliantly in English. Your two expressions, " leave it in the oven to get on with things by itself" and "slightly shrivelled" are perfect recipe explanations. As always your photographs are inspirational as is your July photo for River Cottage Veg recipes. I suspect you and your family will be making some interesting excursions in the next six weeks. I hope you share them with all of us. Sending hoots and hollars to the girls who are on vacation (I hope they posted good grades for the school session).

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    1. Mary, true true, I made two Black Forest Cakes last week - the first ones. Ever. Who would have thought. And the resaon why I baked them was simple, someone saw my blog, contacted me and asked whether I could bake one for an upcoming Birthday - I agreed and then it occurred to me that I had never baked one. Go figure. It was so delicious and yes, it was devoured and, no, there will be no post about it - too many cakes, too little time. Life can be exhausting during summertime. And a big fat thanks to you for the nice comment - I truly appreciate hearing from you and love all your comments. Danke!

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  17. Belli , belli ! what a colors !! ciaoooo

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  18. This dish looks even more gorgeous with a variety of tomatoes. I love the way you served them, too. Such a beautiful tartine with the broad beans and feta. Summer eating is marvelous.

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  19. Broad beans are my new favorite summer vegetable too! I'm so grateful to CCC for introducing me to them. I love the idea of pairing them with the tomatoes and cheese. Beautiful dish.

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