One of my favorite things about owning a store is the buying process. So many people ask, "How do you know what to buy and how much of it?" To be honest it's somewhat of a guessing game. I always joke that I'm just really good at spending money. In fact, I was born on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving & the biggest shopping day of the year) and my parents have always teased me that I was born to shop. So now I actually get to put it to use at the store!
Oddly enough though, some of my absolute favorite things to buy, for the store or myself, are cookbooks. I cannot control myself when it comes to new cookbooks, and after our last shipment to the store I added 8 more to my personal collection at home. Joseph wanted to die, again.
So what does one do with dozens and dozens of cookbooks? Start cooking! Since the store is closed on Sundays this time of year (don't worry, it's only a few more weeks until we go back to 7 days!) I spend most of my Sundays in my favorite place, the kitchen. Yesterday I made one of my favorites, slow roasted tomatoes. It's a perfect way to use up early tomatoes that aren't as sweet as those beauties we get in July and August. There are countless recipes for this process out there but my personal favorite comes from A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg. It's a great book if you haven't checked it out.
The key to this process is making sure you're going to be around the house for 4 to 6 hours. Set your oven to 200° and line a baking sheet with parchment or even better, a Silpat or silicone baking sheet. Cut your tomatoes in half and if they have big stems, trim off the stem end. Toss them in some good olive oil, a generous sprinkling of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper and my favorite (courtesy of Molly Wizenberg) a little ground coriander.
Oh and if you're in need of some good olive oil, pick up one of these next time you're in the store. 1492 Olive Oil, it's delicious and perfect for this kind of recipe where you're really going to taste the oil.
Back to the tomatoes...once you've tossed them in everything, spread them out on your baking sheet and let them go for 4 to 6 hours, depending on the size of the tomatoes. I had cherries so mine went in for about 4 hours.
When you take them out they're so soft and the tomato flavor is so intense, they're hard not to devour on the spot. If you can manage to make them last, just store them in a glass container in the fridge with some extra olive oil to keep them covered. I added them to a salad of quinoa, arugula & feta with a sherry vinaigrette to go with our grilled lobster Sunday night (I know, being the wife of a seafood restaurant owner has its perks!). Last night they topped crostini with pesto and mozzarella, alla Christine. In fact, these would look great on top of one of our Cake Vintage papers for your next party!
So if you're in the mood for a new cookbook stop by and I'll show you some of my favorites. And if you've already got a great collection at home, get in the kitchen and put them to use!
xo,
Blair & The TaDa Girls
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