Ask me what's my favorite season and I'll tell you fall. But ask me what my favorite season is for produce and I'll tell you summer. I hate the 100 degree weather but I will glady suffer through the heat if I can enjoy all of summer's harvest. When I'm not snacking on all the berries, you can find me eating cherry tomatoes like no other. As amazing as they are fresh, I wanted to mix it up a little and decided to make brown butter roasted tomatoes for a delicious side dish. Pile on the tomatoes on a bed of tzatziki and garnish them with fried capers for one flavorful dish.
Brown Butter Roasted Tomatoes
Ingredients
Brown butter roasted tomatoes
- ¼ cup butter
- 2 pints cherry tomatoes
- 4 garlic cloves sliced
- 2 thyme sprigs
- 1 rosemary sprig
- ½ teaspoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon red chili flakes
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Tzatziki
- 1 cup labneh
- 2 tablespoon fresh dill chopped
- 2 garlic cloves grated
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ½ teaspoon cumin ground
- salt and pepper
Remaining ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoon capers drained and patted dry with paper towels
- ¼ cup fresh basil
- freshly cracked black pepper
- Maldon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Melt ¼ cup butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter until it starts to smell nutty and browns, about 5-7 minutes.
- Place the tomatoes in a baking dish along with the garlic, thyme, rosemary, sugar, red chili flakes, salt, and pepper. Pour the browned butter into the mix, stirring to coat. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and roast for 15 minutes. Remove the cover and continue to roast for another 5-7 minutes or until slightly charred.
- Meanwhile, make the tzatziki. Mix together the labneh with dill, garlic, lemon zest, and cumin. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Heat ¼ cup in a small saucepot over high heat. When the oil starts to shimmer (at around 375 degrees F), add the capers and fry for 2-3 minutes or until crispy and golden brown. Remove the capers with a slotted spoon and drain the excess oil on paper towels.
- Spread the tzatziki on a serving plate and top with the brown butter roasted tomatoes. Garnish the tomatoes with the fried capers, fresh basil, freshly cracked black pepper, and Maldon salt. Serve with crusty bread.
Notes
**Helpful tips and common mistakes
The inspiration for this brown butter roasted tomato dish is all thanks to the amazing Yotam Ottolenghi. I don't know why it took me so long to discover his recipes but now that I have, I can't get enough of them. I've been working my way through his Simple cookbook and happened to fall in love with his charred tomatoes with cold yogurt recipe. In fact, I loved it so much that I decided to create my version with slight changes.
Ottolenghi roasts tomatoes with cumin, oregano, thyme, and olive oil in the oven until charred. I decided to roast my tomatoes in brown butter because, well, why not? I love the nutty flavor of brown butter and thought it would be wonderful with the tomatoes.
Melt ¼ cup butter in a pan over medium heat until it starts to smell nutty and browns. Now toss those tomatoes in the brown butter and add garlic, sugar, red chili flakes, thyme, and rosemary.
Cover the pan to allow the tomatoes to soften, then, remove the cover and continue to roast for another 5-7 minutes or until charred.
The tomatoes alone would be fantastic as a topping for salads, roasted chicken, grilled steak, or on crostini. However, we're going to incorporate yogurt just like how Ottolenghi did. The hot tomatoes turn the yogurt creamy and pairs so wonderfully together.
I wanted to give my dish a Mediterranean spin so I decided to pair the tomatoes with tzatziki instead of plain yogurt. Combine the labne with fresh dill, cumin, grated garlic, and lemon zest and season the tzatziki with salt and pepper.
We're also going to take it one step further and garnish the dish with fried capers. Drain the capers and pat them dry with paper towels. Then, heat ¼ cup oil and fry the capers until they darken in color.
Spread the tzatziki on a plate and spoon the tomatoes along with the juices right on top. Garnish the brown butter roasted tomatoes with the fried capers, fresh basil, freshly cracked pepper, and sea salt.
Serve the tomatoes with crusty bread, making sure to spoon all that goodness on the bread. Ottolenghi, you are a true genius and although my version is slightly different, I love both recipes equally.
For more appetizer inspiration check out these fried ricotta balls with spicy marinara!
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