There’s no denying it. The change is in the air. As in, the 59 degree air that greeted me in my house after I emerged from my cocoon of blankets and sweatshirts early this morning. And man, when did it start staying dark so late?

When I stumbled outside for my daily ritual of releasing the poultry, the girls were still snug in their coop. Their summer routine involves being awake before the sun comes up and catapulting themselves into the yard, diving beak-first into their day of pecking and scratching.

Today, it’s a different narrative. As I propped open the door to the run with an oval shaped, smooth, red rock as I always do, the ladies lazily, slowly, and hesitantly emerged from their warm nest.

I know I’m not the only one craving slippers. And slow-cookers. And pumpkin-spice anything (except the M&M’s…I’m sorry to say, they’re not worth the splurge).

That’s why I’m so glad that over the weekend, before a quick trip with my parents and husband (eek! still love saying husband!) to Green Bay, Wisconsin to cheer our beloved Packers on to victory, I pulled tomatoes from the garden and put ’em up.

That is, slow roasted them in the oven with olive oil, garlic and rosemary until they became wilty, deliciously sweet and deep in flavor. And now they’re ready to pile on crostini smothered with goat cheese, top a bowl of quinoa and kale, combine with hot Italian sausage to make a quick pasta sauce or just drip down over the sides of tender pan-roasted chicken. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Start with fresh, in season tomatoes of any variety.

Cut tomatoes into evenly sized pieces and arrange in an even layer on a baking sheet with garlic cloves, herbs, salt, pepper and olive oil.

Roast at low heat for several hours. The flavors of the tomatoes will deepen and sweeten and your house will smell like heaven. I feel like that should be a lyric in a country song.

Before:

After:

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Oven-Roasted Tomatoes

You’ll notice there are no measurements here. Use as many tomatoes as you have and make them as garlicky as you like them. I tend to do about six cloves of garlic per jelly roll pan of tomatoes, but again, it’s totally up to you.

Use this:

Tomatoes

Garlic Cloves

Olive Oil

Kosher Salt

Pepper

Chopped fresh herbs (rosemary and/or thyme)

Do this:

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line a jelly roll pan with parchment papers (or two, depending on how many tomatoes you plan to roast).

Cut tomatoes into evenly sized pieces. Smaller tomatoes may simply be cut in half, larger tomatoes can be cut into fourths of sixths.

Lay tomatoes in an even layer on the jelly roll pan. Arrange garlic cloves (still wrapped in their papers) evenly among the tomato pieces. Sprinkle herbs on top of tomatoes. Drizzle pan with olive oil, coating evenly. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast for between 2 1/2 and 3 hours, until tomatoes are wilted and juices are browned on the bottom of the pan. Let cool in pan and transfer to jars or other containers.

Will keep in the refrigerator for 1 week or frozen for up to 3 months.

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