Every year I always plant at least one cherry tomato variety and it seems like every year that plant decides to try and take over the entire tomato patch and produces what seems like thousands of little tomatoes. finding things to do with all those little beauties is another story. they go awesome with just about any salad, homemade hummus, goat cheese, steamed green beans, even just on their own…. so many options, how do you choose? One of my favorite ways to eat cherry tomatoes is to roast them with a little basalmic vinegar, brown sugar, and a mix of herbs. talk about happiness on your tastebuds. and they are really good with any of the foods mentioned above. Try it and let me know what your favorite way is.

What you will need:

• 2 pints of cherry, grape, or other small tomatoes
• 1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced and roughly chopped (optional)
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
• 1 small sprig rosemary, cut in half,
• OR 2 tablespoons of mixed chopped garden herbs, such oregano, thyme, and basil
• kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If the tomatoes are large, slice them in half. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss the  tomatoes with the onion, (if using). Sprinkle the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and brown sugar over the tomato and onion mixture. Season with a generous pinch of salt and scatter the herbs on top.

Bake for 10 minutes and stir the tomatoes with a heat-proof spatula, mixing any stray pools of vinegar and tomato juice back together as much as possible. The juice of tomatoes will help deglaze the baking sheet. Bits of vinegar will stick to the spatula; that’s fine (when it cools, it turns into a handy “vinegar candy” snack for the cook). Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees.

continue to bake, stir every 10 minutes, until the tomatoes begin to wrinkle but are still very juicy, 20 – 30 minutes, depending on the size, variety, and ripeness of the tomatoes.

Remove the tomatoes from the oven and transfer to a bowl to cool. scraping the baking sheet well, and season with additional salt and pepper to taste.

Refrigerate for up to 1 week