Oilive Oil Poached Tomatoes

You might have been wondering what was in that little cup on the side of my last post.  Now I'll tell you.

One of my favorite food personalities is Chuck Hughes from Cooking Channel.  He makes cooking seem fun. He's funny. And his food looks amazing.  If I ever find myself up in French Canada, I will make it a point to seek out on of his establishments.

One day I was watching "Chuck's Day Off" and he made some olive oil poached cherry tomatoes.  His recipe is here.  So a while back I decided to make a lightly poached version of the same thing -- but on the grill!

I felt like MacGyver.  I created this little tray out of layers of aluminum foil with the edges folded up to create a dish.  I filled it with a decent amount of olive oil, and threw in some cherry tomatoes.  You will also want to season them with at least salt & pepper, but some nice herbs, garlic, and maybe onion powder are nice too.

Recently the Mrs. was making dinner and thought that would be a good side.  She asked me to go fire up the grill, and I told her we could just as easily do it on the stove top in a non-stick skillet (which is how Chuck did it all along).

We might not always be "poaching" the tomatoes -- but rather just lightly frying them until they plump up and almost split apart. But the concept is still pretty much the same.

The oil, herbs, and salt give the tomatoes a great flavor profile. And the natural sweetness & acidity provide a lot of complex flavors for something relatively simple.  Be careful not to bite into them right away, because they will be hot.

But the outside skin should be pretty soft at this point and not provide much resistance. And the inside of the tomatoes is plump & juicy and will release a burst of flavor when you bite into them.  If you have them on the vine the presentation is even nicer:  (Chuck's image)

...having a professional photographer and food stylist can't hurt either!