Next year I am planting more San Marzanos. We have been making tray after tray of slow roasted tomatoes, and the San Marzanos are better than any other variety for this purpose.  Yeah, we have roasted every variety we have, but the San Marzanos are so meaty and they have great flavor when roasted!

There are several recipes for slow roasted tomatoes on the web, such as this one, or you can make up your own.

Basically, you put some olive oil on the tray, and some herbs, and then cut tomatoes in half and lay them cut-side down and roast them for 10-12 hours at 200 degrees. Then you skin them and freeze the results.

Heavenly!

The only problem: just how much electricity am I using to run the oven for 10-12 hours? Probably waaayyy too much. Certainly much more than I would if I was microwave cooking. But some things you just can’t microwave.  And besides, I buy wind power, and I’m stuffing the oven full when I roast things, so I don’t have to feel quite as guilty.

Here are a few random shots of our roasting hijinx, and then a recipe or two.

This weekend, we used some of the slow roastees to make ranchero sauce for a Mexican meal (yes, it’s the right link – scroll down!) and for a slow-roasted tomato bisque, which is something I came up with all by myself.

Spicy Vegan Slow Roasted Tomato Bisque

1 quart of slow-roasted tomatoes
1 onion quartered
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of olive oil
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more, depending upon your spice preference)
2 cups of vegetable broth
Fresh cracked black pepper to taste (with the broth, you shouldn’t need salt, right?)
1/4 cup cashew butter, if needed for thickening.

If you have some time and you are already roasting things in the oven: Put the onions in a baking dish with the olive oil and roast at 250 for 2 hours. Add the garlic and roast another two hours.   Transfer vegetables to a saucepan (I leave the oil behind), add the tomatoes, basil, red pepper flakes and vegetable broth.  Heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.  Blend in batches and then return it all to the soup pot. If the soup is too thin, blend the cashew butter into the last batch, then mix it back into the rest of the soup and heat thoroughly.

If you have less time, chop the onions coarsely and sautee them in just a couple of a bit (a tablespoon maybe?) of olive oil in a soup pot.  Once they are transulcent, mince the garlic and add it.  Cook until fragrant.  Then add the tomatoes, basil, pepper flakes and vegetable broth.  Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, then blend in batches.  Use cashew butter to thicken it if necessary.