Grilled Cherry Tomatoes

I'm not sure when I first tasted a version of these tomatoes, but I feel like I've been making them for quite a few years. My most recent fan is my husband, for whom I made them tonight after he brought home some tomatoes. There's something about the grilling that so beautifully combines all the flavors (tomato, rosemary, garlic, olive oil) and reminds you that Italian cooking is about simple but good quality ingredients combined in such a way that they produce magic.

I like these tomatoes as a side dish to a simple meat - a nice steak, lamb chops, or chicken - or as part of a bruschetta starter, served on top of toasted, crusty bread. If you have the will power to do something other than start eating and serving them directly from the roasting tray, they are also wonderful whizzed up in the blender and served either as their own tomato soup (maybe with a touch of tobasco if you like it spicy), or as added to another larger soup or to a tomato sauce. Do be sure to whizz it well to chop up the skins. Either way, grab a piece of bread and your dearest loved one (or yourself, if you're not feeling so generous) and lap up the juices left behind in the tray - they're concentrated deliciousness.



Yield: side dish or bruschetta for 4
Ingredients

• 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes
• 2 sprigs of rosemary
• 2 medium garlic cloves
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper

1. Cut the tomatoes in half from pole-to-pole (so to speak)
2. Put these in a roast tray with the leaves from the rosemary sprigs
3. Chop up the garlic cloves and add to the roasting tray
4. Mix together and spread out on the tray so that it's all on one layer
5. Drizzle the olive oil on top of the tomato mixture
6. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top of the mixture
7. Mix everything together, and again spread out the mixture on the tray
8. Grill for about 20 minutes at 200 degrees centigrade, until the tomatos begin to collapse slightly
9. Drain off any excess water before serving