Olive Oil Poached Tomatoes

Olive oil poached tomatoes are easy to make, have a variety of uses, and honestly just look nice when presented on a plate. Some Italian dishes call for larger tomatoes such as beefsteak, plum, or Roma to be poached prior to including them into the recipe. I like to poach smaller tomatoes such as grape, cherry, or vine clusters. they serve as a great side side, warm salad, or beautiful garnish. Regardless of your size and variety, all tomatoes poach the same way. Here is a great way to get you started!

Yields 1 quart poached tomatoes
Full time: 20-30 minutes

You will need:

1 quart cherry tomatoes, remove any stems or leaves
2 cups olive oil
1/4 cup dried basil
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt

Let us begin:

Start by washing your tomatoes and making sure they are extremely dry.

In a high sided saute pan or medium stock pot mix olive oil, garlic, basil, and salt.

Turn heat to a medium and bring it to a nice low poaching temperature, you'll know you have reach the right temperature when bubble begin to appear and filter out of the minced garlic.

Keep an eye on oil temperature, you do not want it to start to boil, adjust cooking temperature if needed.

Gently add tomatoes into the oil and cook until their skins begin to wrinkle and split, approximately 5-8 minutes, for smaller tomatoes. 10-12 for larger.

Once tomatoes begin to wrinkle and split remove from oil and place on a paper towel to drain off excess oil for 1-2 minutes.

Plate and serve immediately, enjoy!