These are addictive and too easy to make – I once intended to make a confit for pasta sauce and it ended up on bread, in our mouths, devoured within the hour. Especially if you have a sour tomato, turning it into a confit is the best way to go. The high heat, with the tomato skin allows the tomato to steam at its core, releasing sugars and juices that would flavour the olive oil and garlic (once acidic turns a caramel sweet) surrounding it. Store these for days and use for anything and everything.
Ingredients
Any kind of tomatoes (ripe or unripe), olive oil, garlic cloves, salt and pepper
Method
Time: Prep – 5 mins, Cook – 40 mins
I like to use a deep oven dish for this to allow the tomatoes and garlic to simmer well in the olive oil and for the juices to be easily scooped out once cooked. Preheat oven to 200C. Pound garlic cloves (only once will do) with skin on to lightly release juices. On your oven dish, keep the tomatoes compact, spread garlic cloves out. Drizzle over with olive oil until the oil is observed to cover the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle salt and pepper over dish. Place in oven for 40 mins at 200C. Your tomatoes are ready when they look shriveled and the garlic skin has turned a golden brown.
As tempting as it looks and smells, never ever pop one of those tomatoes into your mouth right after cooking 😉
What next?
Simply eat with toast – In a bowl, add the tomato confit with the cooked oil, a cooked garlic clove and a dash of balsamic vinegar. Layer over bread and avocado
Turn into pasta sauce – Prick tomatoes and garlic lightly, mix and then add cooked pasta
Stew – Add into a meat or fish stew, or into a ratatouille
Store – Store in the fridge with more olive oil for when you need to use it next, and notice that the flavours would have also developed
A plate full of wonder 
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