[caption id="attachment_1061" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="The tomatoes have to be blanched and peeled"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1062" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="After cooking in caramel for a while, they're covered with dough, which is then baked."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1063" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="When that's done, it's flipped. What you can see here is a bunch of tomatoes under a layer of very dark caramel"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1064" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="And then it can be enjoyed!"][/caption]

I had a bunch of leftover tomatoes recently that were probably not going to survive until I could use them. I also have been thinking a lot lately about how tomatoes are really a fruit… (as by the way are zucchini and a bunch of other “vegetables”, but more about that later).

One of my favorite recipes to make is apple tarte tatin. So I thought, I’ve heard of people making tomato tarte tatin, and it is a fruit anyway, so why not try it? I used this apple tarte tatin recipe, but substituted blanched, peeled tomatoes for apples.

The resulting tart strikes a strange balance between savory and sweet. The caramel, of course, is sweet and sugary (though I may have overcooked it a little bit - don’t make caramel on high heat!). But the tomatoes are savory, and don’t magically become sweet through the cooking process. It’s very hard to describe. Smoky, but also sweet. Tart and maybe even a little bitter, but after you swallow the sweetness comes out.

Good with coffee.