Nicholas Day's Slow Roasted Tomatoes for Winter is like your first college acceptance letter—an indication of good things to come, your ticket to so many possibilities.
Yes, you can make it with farro as the recipe suggests, but that's like choosing that first college: You’re going to like it, but you’re not considering all the other options.
Because before the farro comes into the picture, the recipe has you roast canned tomatoes with herbs and garlic and olive oil on a low temperature for a long time.
And unlike choosing between colleges, you can say yes to more than one meal option—and there are many. Make a very big batch of these tomatoes on the weekend (I would quadruple it), and your week of meals just got more interesting without much added effort.
Here's how to set yourself for the week:
Make these over the weekend:
- A lot of slow roasted tomatoes
- A pot of farro
- A pot of greens, like creamed greens and pancetta
- A pot of beans
Have these ingredients on hand for on-the-fly cooking:
- Pasta of choice
- Eggs
- Bread for sandwiches
- Mozzarella
- Coconut milk
- White fish
- Store-bought or homemade pizza dough and your favorite toppings
- Broth
- Parmesan cheese
Take those building blocks and fix yourself good meals:
- Take a cue from the original recipe and swirl it into farro. Top it with a 6-minute egg and/or greens.
- Boil some pasta, then pretend it’s jarred pasta sauce, only better. Dinner in 20 minutes!
- Or pretend it’s tomato sauce and use it on a pizza. Top with cheese and vegetables, as you would.
- Make a panini with schmear, greens, and mozzarella.
- Swirl it into soft scrambled eggs, with or without toast.
- Sauté some onions and garlic in a soup pot, then add curry powder. Add coconut milk and a big spoon of the roasted tomatoes. Simmer and adjust to your tastes. Add whatever curry accessories that you like: the beans and greens you cooked over the weekend, tofu, lentils, peas, carrots, fish, and so on.
- Cook a classic pasta e fagioli by substituting the canned tomatoes for your roasted ones. and the beans, pasta, and broth you have at your disposal. Shave some Parm on top.
- Use it as a glaze on fish, like char. For a creamy marinade, stir the tomato into some mayo before glazing.
Tell us in the comments: What do you always have on hand to make sure you'll have a week of good meals?
A New Way to Dinner, co-authored by Food52's founders Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, is an indispensable playbook for stress-free meal-planning (hint: cook foundational dishes on the weekend and mix and match ‘em through the week).
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Written by: Ali Slagle
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