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Cherry tomato and garlic confit is an easy-to-make French recipe that uses the traditional technique of slow-roasting tomatoes and garlic in lots of oil with a hint of rosemary. It’s an easy recipe that can really elevate your cooking arsenal.

Whether tossing it into pasta, topping a pizza, using it to enhance a sauce, or simply spreading bread as a tasty snack, tomato and garlic confit is versatile and gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan!

Prep time: 2 minutes
Cook time: 2 hours
Ready in: around 2 hours
Store for up to 2 weeks when refrigerated in an airtight container or jar

Categories: French, Italian, Recipes

Tags: baked, cherry tomato, confit, Extra virgin olive oil, garlic, rosemary

How to Make Cherry Tomato and Garlic Confit

Ingredients

2 pounds (1 kg) cherry tomatoes
2 heads of garlic (tips trimmed)
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 large sprig of rosemary
Salt and pepper (to taste)

Equipment

Deep-sided ovenproof dish
Kitchen scissors
Oven

Method

Preheat the oven to 250°F/120°C
Trim the tips from each garlic clove with kitchen scissors (leave the head attached).
Place the cherry tomatoes, garlic heads, and rosemary into an ovenproof dish.
Season to taste with salt and cracked black pepper and cover with extra virgin olive oil.
Bake for 2 hours.
Allow to cool and squeeze out the roasted garlic from the husks.
Squish tomatoes with a fork.
Transfer to an airtight container or jar. Store for up to 2 weeks in the fridge.

Cooking tips:

If you can’t source cherry tomatoes, use small whole plum tomatoes or ripe on-vine Roma tomatoes.
Always use good quality olive oil, preferably extra virgin olive oil

A dish of oven baked cherry tomato confit with garlic and a sprig of rosemary.

Best Tomatoes to Use to Make Tomato Confit

Use ripe cherry tomatoes for best results with your confit. There are plenty of cherry tomato varieties and all sweeten and caramelize deliciously once they are gently baked in oil.

Cherry tomatoes are usually categorized as having a sweet, tangy, and slightly tart flavor. With many varieties to choose from, it is best to use cherry tomatoes that are not too sweet, as they will sweeten during the confit cooking process.

Suggested cherry tomato varieties:

Juliet Grape
Sungold
Sweet Million
Riesentraube
Sweet 100
Black Cherry
Chadwick Cherry
Indigo Rose Tomato
Isis Candy Cherry

Can I use normal tomatoes?

Yes, normal tomatoes can also be used, but remember the tomatoes should be as small as possible so they are at submerged in oil. The confit cooking process works best when ingredients are at least semi-submerged in oil, and completely submerged works without fail.

What is Confit?

Confit is the French word meaning “preserved”. Nowadays is it a common cooking term for anything that is slowly cooked in oil at a low temperature of around 100-120°C (212-250°F). A few of the most common ingredients that are made ‘Confit’ include garlic, tomatoes, duck, and artichokes.

Confit is a traditional cooking method used to preserve ingredients and can be found in many recipes throughout Mediterranean cities including France, Italy, and Spain. These days, cooking ‘confit’ is easy and a great way of preserving ingredients or making intense and flavorsome sauces that when stored in an airtight container, will last up to two weeks.

Ingredients and substitutions

Confit is a great recipe that uses very few ingredients but yields a rich, intense flavor. Using good quality ingredients is key, and aim to use ripe cherry tomatoes as they will be the sweetest.

Seasoning and the herbs you use will play a big part in the overall flavor of your confit. Don’t combine herbs as it tends to dilute the flavor, and always use fresh herbs as much as possible. Hardy herbs such as rosemary and thyme work best as they tend to slowly release the flavor into the ingredients as they are slowly roasted.

As we mentioned before, there are a few different ingredients that are commonly found confit. Garlic is a favorite (check out our 2-ingredient garlic confit recipe here) and tomatoes are also excellent when gently roasted. Of course, why not combine them both? That’s exactly what we were thinking with this recipe!

What goes with Cherry tomato and garlic confit?

Perhaps a better question is what doesn’t go with cherry tomato and garlic confit! This recipe is just so good and its always great to have a jar in the fridge. Here are just a few suggestions for how to use your delicious homemade cherry tomato confit

Pizza sauce base: Smear it over a pizza base for a fantastic tomato and garlic kick to your favorite pizza.

As a pasta topping or sauce: Drizzle it over your favorite pasta or use it to enhance a plain tomato sauce and you’ve got a flavor explosion.

Smeared on toast or bread: perhaps the best way to enjoy confit is smeared onto some warmed or lightly toasted baguette or bread. Oh…so…good!

The Healthy Happy Mediterranean Diet

It’s no secret that we at the Happy Mediterranean are BIG fans of the Mediterranean diet, and for good reason. The Mediterranean diet is just soooo good for you. And the best thing, it’s very easy to incorporate it into your diet and routine.

In essence, the Mediterranean way of eating focuses on fresh produce, whole grains, olive oil, nuts, lean protein sources (seafood, poultry, beans, legumes), herbs, and spices. Red meat and desserts are found in the Mediterranean too, however, they are consumed to a much lesser extent.

Explore different articles on the Mediterranean Diet and how to incorporate it in your life:

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