Have you ever looked at a recipe and thought for a moment that you would try to make it, but then it ended up going into an entirely different direction? That is how I came up with this version of my tomato jam. It is delicious and simple.

A wonderful neighbor of mine gave me a bunch of tomatoes in varying stages of ripeness. Some were ready to eat, some green and some were in between. Not really sure of what I wanted to do with all of these jewels I ended up slowly roasting them in the oven for a few hours.

Then I realized I should roast some cloves of garlic too. What an amazing combination of flavors!

2 lbs of tomatoes, any variety and varying levels of ripeness

salt, to taste

pepper, to taste

3 tbsp olive oil

4 cloves of garlic, large and peel intact

1 tsp olive oil (for the garlic)

Preheat the oven to 275. Prepare the tomatoes by removing the stem bits and slicing into halves. Slice each half into 1/4” thick slices; place them on a rimmed cookie sheet. Once all the tomatoes are sliced, season with salt, pepper and olive oil. Place in the oven for 4 hours; turning the tomatoes at least once during that time.

Meanwhile, prepare a foil pouch to roast the garlic. In the foil, place the garlic, salt, pepper and the tsp of olive oil. Close the pouch tightly so the oil does not leak out. During the last 30 minutes of cooking time, add the pouch of garlic to roast. Remove the pouch, taking care when opening. It will be hot. Remove the peel from the garlic cloves and discard.

Add the roasted tomatoes and garlic to a food processor or blender. Pulse to a thick jam-like paste. If it seems too thick, slowly drizzle in some olive oil until the desired consistency is reached.

Serve room temperature as a dip with a nice crostini or artisan cracker. It’s pretty addictive. Happy cooking!