I am a huge fan of cherry and grape tomatoes. I throw them in our nightly dinner salad, I add them in to soup, I eat them with a bit of Italian seasoning/olive oil/balsamic vinegar as a side salad, and I even give them to my 16 year old corgi as a treat sometimes. Yet, there are other times, when I forget about them. Usually, when my tomatoes start to prune and get wrinkly I feel horribly guilty but throw them out. But I hate wasting food and I figured there must be a good use for them. And now, there is! Enter: second chances tomato compote. Highly highly recommend any time you have extra tomatoes that borderline going bad (scroll down to see what mine looked like).
This recipe pairs it with toast and eggs– but you can make the tomatoes and keep them for up to a week in an airtight container to make on their own.
Ingredients:
(Total time: 45 min | Makes 2 servings)
For the tomatoes–
- 1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tbs apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice!)
- 1 tbs water
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder (or 1 garlic clove)
- 1/2 tsp salt (see notes)
- 1/8 tsp pepper
For the rest-
- 2 pieces preferred toast (I did sourdough)
- 2 eggs (I fried over easy)
Directions:
Tomatoes first! Put all tomato ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat. Cover with a lid and simmer for 40 minutes, stirring from time to time. Most of the liquid will evaporate somewhat early on– this is okay! You’re cooking the tomatoes low and slow for a reason.
Cook egg and toast in final 5 minutes. Serve with an additional sprinkling of pepper but do not add any additional salt– the tomatoes will already add enough. Enjoy!
Notes:
On assessing if your tomatoes are too old: Halving the tomatoes gives you a good sanity check to make sure none of them have crossed over the toooo wrinkly line— toss any that are black or molding inside in the trash!
On saltiness: The tomatoes are cooked in quite a bit of salt so I wouldn’t recommend adding any more salt to the eggs or toast. If you’re sensitive to salt, use only 1/4 tsp salt.
Swipe to see where my wrinkly tomatoes started and what they looked like after cooking!
What am I listening to as I make this? “Hindsight” by Madison McFerrin
What can I learn while I make this? The difference between jam and compote (at least for our purposes). Both involve starting with fruit and adding in sugar, but compote is served straightaway, whereas a jam/jelly/chutney/etc. is typically stored for later use. Read more here on Eater.
What if I want another yummy toast but not this one? Don’t worry– I won’t be offended! Check out these other ideas below:
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