Intro

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The tomatoes arrived orange. It has been nearly 9 months since I’ve had a decent tomato but if memory serves me correctly tomatoes are suppose to be red. Not just any red. The kind of red that makes Dorothy’s slippers seem dull and lifeless.

Red like the color of our first car. We called it the “Red Hot” and it was anything but hot. An Oldsmobile Achieva that we bought from Gabe’s grandparents and took with us when we move to LA.  It screamed to have American Flags waving from the back windows, so we obliged. There we were driving our intensely red, “red hot” down the streets of Beverly Hills, American Flags flapping proudly. He dropped me off at work in that car right along side the Bentley’s and Rolls’.

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Rather than trying to wait for the flavor to magically develop with the aid of a brown paper bag, which would merely hint at the tomatoes I will be tasting in a few months, I decided these orange tomatoes needed several hours in a warm oven. There they concentrate into a sweet acidic bite that perfectly accompanies bacon and lettuce sandwiched in between two pieces of lightly toasted bread.

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I’m talking about a B L slow-roasted T. Throw in the addition of a Basil mayo and you are looking at my latest favorite sandwich. One that can be eaten at any time, any place – even now as we wait for those “Red Hot”-like tomatoes that appear around here in late August. Until those intensely hot days that allow the tomato to concentrate the sun’s heat into an aromatic, sweet fruit, I will use the aid of my oven. I’m not complaining one bit.

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You’re welcome.

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Slow Roasted Tomato BLT

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

You can do this with essentially any tomato although the roasting time will vary. I used about 8 barely ripe Romas. I sliced them ¼” thick and laid those on a parchment lined sheet tray with a few sprigs of thyme. After a very light drizzle of olive oil and a whisper of salt (remember these will reduce by quite a bit so don’t overdo it with the salt at this point) they go into a 225* for about 4 hours or until shriveled around the edge while still maintaining a bit of juice. Because of the low oven heat these do not color at all but rather slowly concentrate their flavors and intensify.

If you don’t use all of your tomatoes simply cover the leftover with olive oil and place in the fridge. In fact, I highly recommend making a very large batch as these little beauties will find many great uses (pasta, antipasti, straight from the jar, cheese tray, grilled cheese, etc.)

 

Basil Mayo

½ cup mayonnaise

3 Tablespoons basil, chopped

 

Stir together mayonnaise and basil.

Apply basil mayo, generously to two slices of lightly toasted bread. Add crispy bacon, lettuce and cooled, roasted tomatoes.

93 Responses to “B L (slow-roasted) T”

  1. Emily

    Oooh! You just made that look so simple and delish! Off to turn my sad Irish tomatoes into yummy, flavorful ones!

  2. Snippets of Thyme

    This really does look soooo delicious. I love any and all vegetables slow roasted in the oven…especially when they go into soups too. What a wonderful sandwich. The photo of the bacon is great!

  3. Frederike

    Oh my, these look amazing. This is an ‘I want to have that on my plate right now’ moment, definitely. And I will make it happen, maybe not today, but I’ll buy the ingredients in my next run to the groceries for sure!

  4. Michelle

    Wow nelly! I can smell the bacon. This looks great! We make a lot of pizza, to prevent a soggy crust but still enjoy fresh tomatoes on the pie I will roast them before I toss them on the pizza.

  5. Gabe

    Photos look amazing! This is almost enough to make me want to eat tomatoe 😉
    – your picky husband

  6. alex

    I agree! I want some good tomatoes! Nothing beats an awesome BLT..I think this fits that category

  7. bianca

    Slow roasting is a gods gift to less than stellar tomatoes. And basil mayo with bacon and lettuce- hello sweet salvation!

  8. linsiloo

    Ashley, you’re pictures are STUNNING! Seriously, seriously stunning. But so is this recipe. I cannot wait to try it! Thanks for sharing!! : )

  9. meg

    this. looks. AWESOME.

    blt is absolutely my favorite sandwich, and this looks fantastic. if i wasn’t being a vegetarian this summer, i would be all over this guy. yum yum.

  10. victoria

    Those are some of your best photos yet – forgetting the fact that I’m hungry and seriously want to eat that!

  11. kristin @ contented me

    This sandwich sounds heavenly! And what a great way to use those not-so-ripe-yet tomatoes, which I have been eyeing, yet ultimately walking away from at the grocery store.

  12. NicoleD

    Wowee wow wow! I love a good BLT, but I have never taken it to this level. The photos are gorgeous!!!

  13. Stash

    Oh my god.

    I think I know what’s for brunch this coming weekend.

    Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

  14. e_grace

    This looks so delicious! Hurray for great sandwich pictures! Time to bring home the bacon 😀

  15. M

    Wow – amazing. Wondering about the bacon, it appear that you cooked it on a pan in the oven, is that true?

    • Ashley Rodriguez

      M – Yes, the bacon was cooked on a parchment lined sheet try in the oven at about 400* until crispy. I flip over the bacon about half-way through, once the first side is crisp. It takes longer this way but you get nice even cooking and they don’t crinkle up as much.

  16. Mikaela Cowles

    I have roasted tomatoes, but never at this low of a heat or for this long. What a wonderful way to bring out more flavor while we wait for the sun to do its work.

  17. Kasey

    The first tomatoes I’ve had this season have been orange and yellow, but I’m just happy to see them back. For a tomato lover like myself, the doldrums of winter are the pits. How beautiful are your tomatoes?! Makes me want to roast a platter-ful right now.

  18. Lucia

    Yum, this sandwich really looks delicious. I can almost feel its texture, basil making love with mayo and tomatoes getting married with bacon. Yum, yum, yum. Or, as we say in Italy, gnam, gnam, gnam.

  19. MG Atwood

    Makes my mouth water! I love BLT and will have to give this a try. Here’s hoping for a hot summer and plentiful tomatoes where we can gorge on these beauties till the cows come home.

  20. The Cilantropist

    This is BRILLIANT. Why have I not thought of this before?? Other than a fantastic recipe, I especially loved the first and second paragraph of this post. That red hot car sounds pretty darn amazing. *wink, wink*

  21. Andrew

    Love BLTs! This recipe sounds so easy. I like how the tomatoes can be refrigerated. Makes slow roasting so much more worth it.

    Thanks!
    -Andrew

    [recipe club]

  22. Baerbel Spittler

    I can’t get enough of slow roasted tomato recipes! Never boring, always motivating to give a new try. Your photos are absolutely mouthwatering!

  23. carrie

    How come my blt’s don’t look like that? Those are making me hungry. Great photography by the way 🙂

  24. Shar

    What a yummy sandwich. Can’t decide which looks like the best part of it the bacon or the tomatoes.

  25. Paula at Dishing The Divine

    I never was a big BLT fan until I had it a local restaurant and they served it with a basil aioli (much like yours!). That made it *much* better. And I can tell you right now that those tomatoes are going to make it even better yet. I’m flagging this to share with my out of town family members next week!

  26. Holly

    These tomatoes are roasted perfectly Ashley! My mission will be to make these mouth-watering tomatoes over the weekend! Thanks for sharing!! x

  27. caroline

    oh my, oh my! this looks so good. I wish there was vegetarian bacon as good as the real thing but even without bacon this sandwich looks yummmy.

  28. Farmgirl Susan

    One of the most beautiful BLTs ever! We’re counting down the days until the kitchen garden gives us enough heirloom tomatoes for BLT night. Thanks for the delicious inspiration. 🙂

  29. Stacie

    I had some yucky grocery store tomatoes (not romas) and decided to roast them for BLTs. I didn’t have four hours so upped the temp and lessened the time–OMG. SO GOOD. I’m pretty sure I won’t be eating a single underripe tomato all winter. THANKS FOR THE RECIPE!

  30. Erica

    I’ve been seeing heirloom tomatoes in lots of colors – reds, oranges, yellows, nearly black!

  31. sara

    Hi there! I found you on Pinterest and I’m totally in love with this sandwich – it looks so delicious! 🙂

  32. KimC

    Now I need to know what else to do with those tomatoes and how long they keep, because I intend to cook a LOT of them!

  33. Leslie

    This was so delicious! I don’t usually like tomatoes and often order BL sandwiches only to get teased by friends and family, but these tomatoes were so delicious and made the perfect sandwich!

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  35. restaurant Fort Lauderdale

    Those roasted tomatoes really look good. The color is just fantastic. This recipe really looks scrumptious! I am absolutely trying this out for breakfast tomorrow. Thank you for sharing this recipe. I am pretty sure my wife would love it!

  36. Sandy

    I made this and it was DELICIOUS. I didn’t have basil so I mixed the mayo with tarragon and we had left over avocado in the home so I added slices of that. Soooo goooood. Thank-you for this recipe.