Tomatoes Shine In Ina Garten's Simple Yet Delicious 3-Ingredient Appetizer

Ina Garten has a knack for making elegant dishes look effortless, and her popular cooking shows and cookbooks help us execute these dishes with the same grace and enthusiasm. In a recipe for tomatoes roasted with pesto she shared on the Food Network, Garten manages to make a sophisticated appetizer out of three ingredients: Tomatoes, pesto, and parmesan cheese.

Roasting tomatoes upgrades their flavor, caramelizing their natural sugars and concentrating their umami richness while creating a unique texture that is at once chewy and juicy. Garten's recipe calls for roasting large tomatoes, which encompasses everything from Roma to plum to large beefsteak varieties. While all sizes of tomatoes will benefit from roasting, larger ones are best for these appetizers because they're a solid foundation for the pesto and cheese. Whether you use Roma, beefsteaks, plums, or heirlooms, the most important factor for roasted tomatoes is that they're fresh and ripe. They still need to be firm enough to withstand high roasting temperatures.

Cut the tomatoes into half-inch thick rounds, pat them dry, then drizzle with olive oil and plenty of salt and pepper before roasting them for 10 minutes at 425 degrees. This initial bake will dry them out a bit, building a firm foundation for a slathering of pesto and shaved parmesan cheese. A second 10-minute roast will melt the cheese and continue developing the tomato slices' sweet umami notes while also infusing them with the nutty, herby earthiness of the pesto.

Ina Garten seasons her tomatoes with salt, pepper, and dried oregano to round out the classic Italian trifecta of basil, tomato, and parmesan. However, you can add even more depth by swapping oregano for a sprinkling of Italian seasonings. For a double dose of cheese, you could add parmesan to your tomatoes with the seasonings before roasting to create a crunchy cheesy crust. Then, you could top the pesto with shredded mozzarella cheese.

If you really want to make this a true three-ingredient recipe, you'd have to top tomatoes with store-bought pesto, of which there are many delicious brands. Otherwise, you can make pesto from scratch with its own list of ingredients. While this might take more effort, scratch-made pesto opens the door for even more variations on this simple three-ingredient appetizer. For example, you could use this cilantro pesto recipe with asadero cheese over a roasted tomato seasoned with tajin for a Mexican transformation. Arugula and walnut pesto would supply a sophisticated bitter bite to pair with a sharper, creamier cheese like gorgonzola or a salty tangy feta crumble.

These tomato appetizers are delicious as stand-alone bites, especially since they're thick-cut slices with firm bases sealed with melted cheese. However, you can get more creative with added carbs or proteins. They'd make an upgraded topping for this bruschetta recipe. Serve them on top of a toasted English muffin with a poached egg for an Italian take on eggs Benedict.