Glad to see that there's a lot of interest in doing tomatoes this way.
I must admit that the first time I tried doing these, I was concerned that they wouldn't turn out OK.
To clarify the stages:
1. Slice tomatoes lengthwise into almost
equal sized pieces. Smaller Romas may be halved, while large tomatoes may require being cut into ¼'s or 1/6's wedges. The idea here is to have their cut edges exposed and for the batch to cook evenly. Pack them tightly on oiled WSM racks.
2. Smoke for ~1hr @~225?in the WSM (I use alder and that time was just about right for the amount of smoke I like on the tomatoes). I did one batch that was smoked for ~3 hrs and it was just
too much smoke for my taste.
This stage is the first photo posted.
3. Remove tomatoes from the smoker and transfer to a large sheet cake pan (the one I use is 13"x18"x?"). It's important for the sides of the pan not to be too low, to better contain the oil and juice of the tomatoes as they cook. This is different from the
Smoke Dried Tomato recipe that Don is referring to, because they're removed from the WSM and roasted in the oven, following smoking.
4. Pack tomatoes tightly, skin side sown, with their edges touching but not overlapping. Sprinkle with granulated garlic, granulated onion, salt and sugar (which helps in the caramelization and balances the flavour).
5. Drizzle Olive oil (or Grapeseed oil) over all the tomato surfaces until the bottom of the pan is covered with about ?" (or ¼" if you want
extra tomato oil).
Note: Be careful not to pour too much oil in the pan, because the tomatoes release their own juices which may cause the pan to overflow into the oven.
Don't ask me how I know this.
6. Place pan on a rack in upper/middle of a 325?F oven for ~ 2 hours. Our oven is convection/electric, so YMMV with other types of ovens.
7. Check after 1½ hrs to see if the edges of the tomatoes around the perimeter of the pan are beginning to <STRIKE> blacken</STRIKE>, uhhh,
caramelize .
(At this stage, there should be
no "tomato juice" left in the bottom of the pan, only oil.)
Remove the caramelized tomatoes from the perimeter and pack them in layers in your container of choice (I use those clear plastic tubs that guacamole or olives come in).
Don't worry about draining all the oil off the tomatoes as you remove them from the pan. As you pack them
down in the container, oil will fill in the gaps and help to protect them in storage. Packing them flat, in layers, at this stage makes it easy to remove them later. If some are quite "blackened" just
sandwich them between a layer of
less-blackened tomatoes above and below (they will soften and rehydrate in storage).
I don't use mason jars because they're too narrow to get into when trying to pack, serve or remove the tomatoes.
8. As your remove
done tomatoes from around the edge of the pan, transfer the ones from the center to the perimeter so they'll caramelize quicker. Return pan to oven for another 15 - 20 minutes.
I find that I only have to do this once or twice per batch.
9. Once all the tomatoes have been removed from the sheet pan, there should be a good layer of
smoked/roasted tomato oil left in the bottom of the pan. Simply pour this out (from a corner of the pan) into a bottle that will be easy to pour from and will fit in your fridge door.
Hint: If you make bread, use the pan for a batch of foccacia (with some of these tomatoes diced and incorporated into the dough). The tomato/oil will be infused into the bottom crust, giving it a remarkable flavor.
As an alternative, you can just draw lots to choose who will have the right to "lick the pan clean".
10. Find a nice cheese (like Cambozola, Beemster or ........well, you'll figure out what's going to work here), uncork a full-bodied Shiraz and serve with rice crackers, melba toast or those flax/sesame crackers I recently found at Costco. Ummmmm........
These are also great diced-up and tossed with Alfredo Sauce, which can be served with your favorite pasta... or diced-up and added to a garden salad
with fresh tomatoes.
HTH, Bruce
