Blistered Cherry Tomatoes with Balsamic Reduction

This year, I decided to start my own heirloom vegetable garden from seed. While it was a challenging, month long process, I am finally starting to see, quite literally, the fruits of my labor. One vegetable we are quickly developing an abundance of is tomatoes. While I certainly have no shortage of ideas of how to put these tomatoes to use, one of my absolute favorites is to blister them in a balsamic reduction.

Balsamic vinegar is one of my all time favorite flavors, and reducing it into a delicious, syrupy concoction will add some incredible taste to almost anything. As far as tomatoes go, there’s no need to be selective or picky. You can use store bought red cherry tomatoes, or a constellation medley of yellow, sungold, and black cherry tomatoes.

If you’ve been ambitious with your garden this year, another great variety to use is Brad’s Atomic Grape Tomatoes from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. As their name implies, they produce a beautiful combination of purple, blue, green, and brown stripes and are extraordinarily sweet.

As I’m sure you all know, I love a recipe that’s quick and easy yet impressive and decadent at the same time. All you need is 15 minutes and a good glass of your favorite wine (optional) to perfectly blister the tomatoes and reduce the balsamic vinegar. I like to plate them with a spoon of coarse sea salt and top with a fresh basil chiffonade. (If you’d like to see a quick tutorial on how easy it is to get this impressive cut from basil, click here.)

Enjoy these blistered cherry tomatoes with balsamic reduction as your new favorite appetizer or snack, or bring it as a side to your next dinner party. Comment down below to tell me how YOUR garden is doing this year!

Print

Blistered Cherry Tomatoes with Balsamic Reduction

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 2 People

Ingredients

• 12 oz cherry tomatoes (Or about 2 cups)
• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp course sea salt
• 3-4 leaves basil
• 1 tsp capers (Optional)

Instructions

1. Heat a large drizzle of olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the tomatoes and balsamic and toss to coat.

2. Sautée the tomatoes in the balsamic over medium heat for 12-15 minutes or until tomatoes are blistered and balsamic vinegar is thick and syrupy.

3. Chiffonade the basil leaves Plate the tomatoes with a spoon of coarse sea salt for sprinkling. Top with capers and the basal chiffonade.