Cherry tomatoes have to be one of my favourite snack foods. I just love the sweetness of the tomato and they really are adorable. Just little bites of summer.

When I was looking through one of my cookbooks for a new side dish, this recipe appealed to me. Confit Cherry Tomatoes. Now, I am not familiar with confit, in fact, the only time I see this term is when it refers to duck. Since I am not a huge fan of duck, the idea of confit has never really struck me as something I needed to try. But cherry tomatoes, well, I never pass up an opportunity to eat more tomatoes, so I figured it was time the confit made an appearance in our kitchen.

The ingredient list is simple. Bacon fat and tomatoes. Yep, you read that correctly, bacon fat. Awesome! 🙂 Since I had to fry up bacon to make this recipe, I decided that keeping the bacon aside and topping the finished dish with it would be ideal.

*Note – I cooked up 6 strips of bacon to use as a crispy topping on the tomatoes, but in all honesty, likely only 4 strips made it to the finished product 😉

When I was in the fridge grabbing the cherry tomatoes, I saw a jalapeño pepper and thought that would go well in this dish as well. Normally when I cook up a jalapeño pepper I take out the seeds and the ribs to eliminate most of the heat. But for this dish, I thinly sliced the peppers whole, keeping in the heat. I thought that the sweetness of the tomatoes and the richness of the bacon could stand up to the heat of the jalapeño.

I was more than pleasantly surprised with the final product. This was bright, colourful and very flavourful. There was an element of heat from the pepper, but not too much that it was over-powering. The tomatoes were even sweeter after they had been roasted, and the bacon (that made it to the finished plate) added a crunchy texture.

I served these as a side dish, but I think it would make a great topping for grilled chicken or salmon. In fact, as I am thinking about all of these flavours, I believe that this would be the perfect topping for a delicious burger. Yum!

OK, now I want to make hamburgers… 🙂

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Adapted from:
Practical Paleo – Confit Cherry Tomatoes
Diane Sanfilippo, BS, NC

Ingredients:

• 6 strips of bacon, diced and cooked crispy
• Bacon fat (from 6 strips of bacon)
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes
• 1 jalapeño pepper – sliced thin (ribs and seeds intact)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Dice bacon and cook till desired texture.  Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 400°F.
3. Place the cherry tomatoes and sliced jalapeño peppers in the hot bacon fat.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Place tomatoes and jalapeño peppers in the oven.  Roast for 20 – 25 minutes or until the tomatoes appear soft and begin to burst open.
5. Serve with crispy bacon pieces.
6. Enjoy this delicious tomato side dish!