Ingredients
- 12 large tomatoes
- 12 fresh basil leaves
- 2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- salt and freshly-milled black pepper
- For the dressing:
- 2 tabs extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tabs balsamic vinegar
To garnish:
- fresh basil leaves
- black olives
Method
- Skin the tomatoes first by pouring boiling water over them and leaving for one minute. Then drain and, as soon as they are cool enough to handle, slip off the skins. Cut in half and place the halves in a roasting tin, cut side up. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with the chopped garlic distributing it evenly between the tomatoes. Follow this with a few drops of olive oil and each one, then top each one with half a basil leaf turning each leaf over to get a coating of oil. Place the roasting tin in the oven for 50 minutes to hour at 200C until the edges are slightly blackened.
- Remove the tin from the oven and leave to cool (this can be done several hours ahead of time).
- To serve the tomatoes: put on individual serving dishes and decorate with extra basil leaves and olives, then whisk the oil and balsamic vinegar together and drizzle over.
- Serve with lots of crusty bread.