Slinking back to French Fridays

For several weeks I was blogging recipes from the wonderful cookbook, "Around My French Table" by Dorie Greenspan, keeping up with the gang at French Fridays with Dorie.  Then I fell off the wagon.  But--I'm back!!  And what an easy week to pick:  Slow-Roasted Tomatoes.

Here's the idea:  slice tomatoes, brush with olive oil, cook in slow oven for three hours.  The result: concentrated tomato taste, like a sun-dried tomato but without the leathery texture.  Then these tomatoes can be used as an ingredient in other recipes.

Here are my grape tomatoes, ready to go into the oven.  The rosemary is from my garden.  I didn't add garlic, although that would have also been delicious.

Here is a view after they are done roasting:

See how shriveled they are?  Rather like large raisins, but still juicy.

I tossed them with some pasta, more olive oil, and parmesan cheese.  The verdict?  Simple tomato-y goodness, sweet and bright, and I don't even like tomatoes!  Bill loved them, too.  The kids, um, well.  This really is a little outside the normal range of things they like, so they don't count on this one.

Dorie says you can store these covered with oil in a jar, and then use them over several weeks.  I think they would be great as part of a bruschetta, or in couscous, or as an addition to a salad.  And I'm stopping by the farmers' market this weekend to get more.  These were great!

Now, I'm also trying to go back and pick up some of the past recipes, because I missed some good ones.  Working backwards, I also started the citrus-berry terrine.  "Terrine" is fancy-cooking-ese for fruit in jello.  This was a hoot to make!  I have never used plain gelatin in anything, but I have conquered my fear.

Here is the plain gelatin softening in a little water.

Then I added some sweetened orange juice, stirred to dissolve the gelatin thoroughly.  Then I placed the mixture in the fridge to thicken slightly, after which I was supposed to add fruit.  Except that I took the girls riding and we stayed too long:

This is orange juice gelatin, no fruit!  We all took a taste, which is why it looks lumpy.  And do you know what it tastes like?  Pure orange juice!  It is delicious, a revelation.  (I really do not like Jell-O.)  Just for the record, here is what I was supposed to end up with:

So I am going to try this again, but I think I will try it with the V8Splash I have in the fridge--Cherry Pomegranate--and I also have to go back to the store because the kids scarfed up all the berries.  What a fun surprise, though.  I can also see using a little less gelatin and making popsicles, too.  Less melty and probably less icy, too.  Too bad summer is over...