Oven Roasted Tomatoes & Thyme

The savory fruit

Given my Mexican, Italian, Costa Rican heritage, there is nothing I love more in this world, than lush, sweet, and crispy tomatoes. Heirloom tomatoes are my tomato of choice, especially when I snag them from our local farmer’s market, where I know they’re being picked at their peek ripeness, right off the vine, and driven to our farmer’s market, where they’re sold that same morning.

Although tomatoes are slightly inflammatory, I can’t deny they’re delicious flavor, and feel the need to put them in almost every savory dish. But this specific way of roasting them, is my absolute favorite.

The last time I made these, I ate about half of them as soon as they popped out of the oven, making it difficult to not only shoot them for this post, but to also adorn my Yellow Squash Pasta dish in them. If you love tomatoes as much as I hope you do, I recommend doubling or tripling this batch, depending on if you plan on snacking on them, using them in a salad, a grilled veggie dish, pasta dish, or a colorful grain bowl.

Remember, this dish is created without garlic or onion, as it is a Low FODMAP dish. But don’t worry, the thyme and salt in this recipe, creates a simply beautiful dish that you’ll still love, and maybe even like better, without the garlic!

Recipe

Serves Two (if you feel like kind of sharing)

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: about 20-25 minutes

What you’ll need:

1 lb (about 2 cups) of organic heirloom cherry tomatoes, preferably sourced from a farmer at your local farmer’s market

2 tbsp organic olive oil

a few pinches of pink Himalayan salt

a few pinches of freshly cracked pepper

a few pinches - 1tbsp, depending on your preferred palette, of dried organic thyme

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F

Rinse & dry the organic cherry heirloom tomatoes, and spread them along a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Drizzle the tomatoes in olive oil, pink Himalayan salt, freshly cracked pepper, and a few generous pinches of thyme. For best results when using dried thyme, put a few pinches in the palm of your hands, and rub your palms together, pulverizing the dried thyme. This releases the aromatic qualities and flavors of the thyme. Not to mention, dried thyme can be sharp and get stuck in your throat if it isn’t properly crushed (but maybe that’s just me.)

Roll the tomatoes around a little bit on the pan, using your hands, to even out the distribution of oil and spices.

Place the pan in the oven, once it’s preheated, and let it cook for about 10 minutes. At 10 minutes, pull them out, give them a little shake, and place them back in the oven. Allow the tomatoes to cook a couple times, at 10-15 minute increments, until they bubble, split open, and gently burn a bit. Before you pull them out to eat, the tomatoes should be tender, blistered, and caramelized. Once they’re ready, pull them out, and add a pinch more salt just for flavor and texture.

You can get as creative as you want with these tomatoes, smashing them over a slice of gluten free toast, or maybe a Basil & Thyme Rice Cracker, like the ones I use in my sweet and salty rice cracker recipe. You can even toss these over a beautiful bowl of gluten free angel hair pasta (if your SIBO levels are low enough to tolerate flours and starches) or maybe over a bed of greens with a little parmesan cheese, or burrata and basil. The options are endless!