My beautiful garden tomatoes, from last year at this time.

We planted seven tomato plants in our garden this year and something has gone horribly wrong. It seems we have one, maybe two plants that are actually going to produce. I’ve been forced to resort to  less-than-perfect-garden-ripe tomatoes from the grocery store and farmers’ markets. (Yes, I know farmers’ markets are wonderful, and I patronize ours nearly every week, but fully ripe tomatoes are just too fragile to transport, so they must be picked before they are at their peak.)

I hope our plants pull through and I am able to harvest perfect tomatoes, hot and fragrant from my garden, but until then, this easy recipe never leaves my counter-top.

Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce (from Martha Steward Living Magazine)

1 pound 6 ounces cherry tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 TB balsamic vinegar (I am one of about four people in the U.S. who doesn’t love this stuff, but I think it’s really good here.)
1 TB fresh thyme (I usually add extra)
2 tsp packed light-brown sugar
1 tsp coarse salt

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix together tomatoes and garlic in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Whisk together oil, vinegar, thyme, brown sugar, and salt in a bowl. Drizzle over tomato mixture.

2. Bake about 1 hour. Serve warm or at room temperature. Sauce can be stored in refrigerator up to 5 days.

I’ve used this “sauce” over pasta, as a side dish (it is lovely with simple grilled, baked or poached fish), I also used them instead of fresh sliced tomatoes in Caprese and pasta  salads. Let me know what you think!

A few links from around the web:

If you read nothing else this week, please read David Brook’s essay on being there for people who are suffering. My Dad sent it to me a while ago and I reread it often.

These flour cookies sound similar to the tender, delicious treats my grandmother made.

I am really “into” these grammar reminders.

Wouldn’t this print be adorable in a baby’s room?

I don’t know about you, but I love a good cry, and  this spectacular skating performance by Yu-Na Kim’s at the 2010 Olympics is a moving spectacle of courage, strength and artistry under the most intense pressures.

“Nobody should ever be proud of their writing because nobody should ever take credit for their writing. It happens to you.” Watch this video interview with blogger and film critic for the New Yorker, Richard Brody to get his other thoughts on life.

I stand before all and admit that I watch the Bachelor/Bachelorette and have since the first season. I am a very, very bad person, but I cannot look away. It’s my guiltiest pleasure.