I'm baaaaaack!

It was nearly 8 years and 3 months when I last posted.  My intentions of blogging and making more public my inner-most thoughts and feelings went out the window as I scrambled to find work after grad school, and then scrambled to build a family once I found work.

And, well, now I don't "work" because three kids kind of take up some of my time.

But the thing is, I still volunteer in the community, I still find time to cook, and I still hang out with my friends... without kids (shocking, I know).  I just do things much differently than I was doing things eight years ago.  I don't take bad food photos with my BlackBerry Pearl, for one thing. I now take bad food photos with my iPhone. And my elaborate week-night meals of handmade pasta or the casual lemon meringue pie are no longer.  I'm super good about putting a yummy meal on the table with whatever I remember I have in the fridge or whatever my CSA box contained that week.

So, as I re-launch AmniEats, I start simple, with a confit of tomatoes.  It's a super easy side dish that brings to the forefront a vegetable (okay fine, fruit) that often gets made into a sauce or thrown in with lots of other things: tomatoes. Tomato season is on the horizon, so keep this one in mind when you have a ton around the kitchen.

I first ate this when visiting my husband's family in Carcasonne, France. This part of the family lives in a rustic chateau that once was the main house of a vineyard.  The house and vineyard are now separate, but I know the vineyard still operates today. My husband's aunt and cousins roasted a whole duck in the oven and served these tomatoes on the side. The slightly caramelized bottoms were sweet and just a touch crusty, while the rest of the tomatoes were full of sweet, acidic flavor.  They sprinkled just a bit of salt and herbes de Provence, giving an added air of earthiness to balance the acidity.

I make this at home on a weeknight to accompany a roasted chicken leg and even for entertaining with lamb chops--it's that versatile.