The other day a fellow male food blogger I follow, Mike over at The Iron You, made these roasted tomatoes. The pictures were what grabbed me. Isn’t that always the way? Anyways, I thought about it and figured I’d make my own, too, and use them in a recipe. I couldn’t just chop them and drop them in something without making them a little extra special. I mean they took a little bit of time to make, but the concentrated flavor they have is amazing.
So here they are in my Slow Roasted Tomato and Spinach Polenta Cakes.
Polenta is one of my favorite comfort foods. The warm cornmeal accentuated with wonderful cheeses and butter is soothing and filling. So why not match that up with the roasted tomatoes and some fresh sautéed spinach and garlic. With a healthy addition of Parmesan cheese and cream I figured these would be rich, so a small portion was due. A little appetizer of sorts.
I figured to take it up a level I would allow these to firm up and cut them into rounds for presentation sake and anoint with a quick and delicious tomato sauce accented with a few more of the roasted tomatoes. These were simply amazing and a big hit. Let’s do this…
Preheat oven to 225°F. Rinse and slice each tomato lengthwise. My rosemary plants are going crazy so I never have a shortage of this beautiful herb.
Next, arrange the rosemary sprigs and garlic cloves on parchment lined baking sheet to make a nice bed for the Romas. Lay the sliced tomatoes on top and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil.
Slow roast for 4 hours, being sure not to burn tomatoes (rosemary and garlic will be dried out for sure, discard). Remove from oven and allow to cool. Chop 8 into small dice, set aside. Store remaining in jar with olive oil to cover tomatoes and seal.
Sauté washed spinach in olive oil until wilted. Drain and rough chop. Set aside. If you don’t have fresh spinach, feel free to use frozen, about 1 cups worth, chopped.
Bring salted water to a boil in large saucepan. Slowly whisk in the cornmeal. Add the butter, and stir until melted. Reduce heat to low and cook until the mixture thickens, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat. Add the heavy cream and cheese, stirring to incorporate completely.
Chop 8 roasted tomato halves and add to the polenta with the chopped spinach. Stir to incorporate and pour into greased 8”x8” baking pan. Allow to cool, then refrigerate to firm up for an hour, or overnight.
With round biscuit cutter (or similar utensil) make 2-inch circle cut outs of polenta. Warm in microwave for 1 minute or heat in a small sauté pan for a minute.
Pour tomato sauce of choice on plate, (I quickly ran a 28 ounce can of San Marzano Whole Peeled Tomatoes through my food mill. Then in a sauté pan with olive oil, cooked some chopped garlic, added the tomatoes and simmered for 10 minutes. Added some fresh chopped basil, a pinch of sugar and salt to taste and cooked for another 10 minutes) top with polenta cakes and more sauce over cakes. It took the same amount of time to make as it was for the polenta, so I was multitasking.
Garnish with basil and serve with more Parmesan cheese.
These creamy, lovely polenta cakes have the fresh spinach and roasted tomatoes enhancing each bite. The roasted tomatoes add that tangy tomato flavor you only get by slow roasting, which concentrates the flavors. Enjoy!
- Roasted Tomatoes
- 8-10 Roma tomatoes, sliced lengthwise
- 20 fresh rosemary sprigs
- 20 garlic cloves
- olive oil
- kosher salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
- Polenta
- 2½ cups water
- 1 cup polenta
- 4 tbsp butter
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- cracked black pepper
- 8 roasted tomato halves, chopped
- 1 lb fresh spinach
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- tomato sauce of choice
- basil
- Preheat oven to 225°F. Rinse and slice each tomato lengthwise.
- Arrange rosemary and garlic cloves on parchment lined baking sheet. Lay the sliced tomatoes on top and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 4 hours, being sure not to burn tomatoes (rosemary and garlic will be). Remove from oven and allow to cool. Chop 8 into small dice, set aside. Store remaining in jar with olive oil to cover tomatoes and seal.
- Sauté washed spinach in olive oil until wilted. Drain and rough chop. Set aside.
- Bring salted water to a boil in large saucepan. Slowly whisk in the cornmeal. Add the butter, and stir until melted. Reduce heat to low and cook until the mixture thickens, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat. Add the heavy cream and cheese, stirring to incorporate completely.
- Chop 8 roasted tomato halves and add to the polenta with the chopped spinach. Stir to incorporate and pour into greased 8”x8” baking pan. Allow to cool, then refrigerate to firm up for an hour, or overnight.
- With round biscuit cutter (or similar utensil) make 2-inch circle cut outs of polenta. Warm in microwave for 1 minute or heat in a small sauté pan for a minute. Pour tomato sauce of choice on plate, top with polenta cakes and more sauce over cakes. Garnish with basil and serve with more Parmesan cheese.
Roasted Tomatoes adapted from Mike over at The Iron You.
These are A-mazing. I hate to admit it but this is my first try at making Polenta and this dish did not disappoint. The only thing I did different was adding some pitted olives, that I got from the olive bar at my grocer, during the last couple of hours of roasting the tomatoes. Then when I chopped the tomatoes for the polenta, I made sure to get the olives in there too. This was white-table-Italian-restaurant impressive. I’ll be making it for company next time. Thanks again my friend.
That warms me up and makes me smile – thanks Sally. So glad to wake up to comments like this one! 🙂
Oh my gosh, they are amazing! I am actually making the Polenta Cakes tomorrow. I was out of butter so we ordered a pizza from this local gourmet fresh pizza joing and I had to stop Dave from putting all the roasted tomatoes on his pizza. So, I’ll be reporting back on the Polenta tomorrow night. One thing I did on the fly during the last two hours was, I tossed some Greek olives in with the tomatoes and they were amazing as well. We love garlic nuts, so ate some of the garlic even though they were almost black.
Love the new look of your site (but I also always liked your “Kevin” logo too 😉 ) Talk to you tomorrow.
So happy to read this. I love the chewy Romas, the roasting with herbs and garlic adds so much. Love the olive add, great idea!
Thanks for the comments about the new look of the site, too. 🙂
Okay, we are soul-mates or something. I’ve been tweeking a recipe for roasted tomas that cook for several hours, tossed in herbs and sherry, and here you just happen to have this fabulous treasure. This recipe looks so delicious and pretty I think it’ll be a perfect New Years Day celebration meal.
How’d those slow roasted Romas turn out? Hope your NYE was a fun and safe one!
Looks so tasty, I wish I was your guest… haha! 🙂
Thank you so much Lily!
Thanks for the shout out Kev, but I have to be honest here your slow roasted tomatoes look much better than mine…
And I love that you made a sauce with them, and served over those gorgeous polenta cakes. I have to try this asap!
PS I’m so jealous of your blooming herb garden , must be amazing to have one. I just have some small plastic pots sitting on my kitchen windowsill and the herbs don’t look that happy… 🙂
Thanks Mike, you always inspire! As for the garden, it’s crazy how different the weather has been on opposite sides of the country, right? Luckily the plants, veggies and fruits got a jump start! BTW, this is the first time the dogs haven’t dug up and eaten everything in the garden (even jalapeno plants!) this year. They must be growing up.
This is a great looking recipe Kevin! I love the sound of anything slow roasted but especially tomatoes! 😀
Thanks so much Lorraine! I’ve been following you for a while on Instagram and your site. It was nice to visit Scotland through your lens, especially the Eilean Donan Castle. Now that was a beautiful shot! Your food and photography are amazing. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Polenta is indeed magic. This tomato “sauce” just makes it all the more special. GREG
It was definitely a quick sauce, but I prefer a longer simmer, wine and tomato paste for sure!
Looks incredible. Have to do this love spinach, tomatoes and polenta. HOME RUN!!!
Thanks so much Patricia!
Ok, I don’t want to hear about how your herb garden is doing great. You’re just rubbing it in my face! Haha…just kidding, of course. I’m jealous that you guys have your herb garden up and rolling already. But I’m more jealous about these polenta cakes. I kinda want to eat those for breakfast right now. They look perfect! Oh, and nice shout out to a fellow Wolfpack member. #WolfpackEats