I’ve sort of been binge cooking this weekend. Seems that lately I want to cook anything I can get my hands on, whether I have to make a special trip to the store for one ingredient or if I have everything I need at home.
I recently had a dish at Sienna Tavern of tomato jam with burrata cheese. It was surprisingly savory and awesome. I wasn’t sure what to expect, I mean tomato jam sounds kind of weird, right? But it was amazing. It was so good it inspired me to make my own. I looked for a recipe and chose this one here.
This is a pretty simple dish to make, it only requires an occasional stirring so the sugar in the pan does not burn. I followed the recipe, which says to let it cook for 70 minutes. So I stood there, stirring, tasting, stirring some more. So far it tasted good and I was happy with the way it was going.
Around the 30 minute mark, it had begun to really thicken up and by my estimation, looked very close to being done. But the recipe said to let it go for 70 minutes, so I left it on a little longer. Once it got to the 40 minute point, I went with my gut and took it off the heat. It had become very thick, and I didn’t want to ruin it.
Once it was cooled, it definitely was thicker than I think it should have been. It wasn’t as easy to plate or spread over the cheese the way I planned. Oh well, right? I’ll definitely make this again, it’s a pretty versatile dish – you can add some peppers to make it spicy, serve it on a grilled cheese, or try it with a variety of different cheeses.
Recipe (Adapted from Jordan’s Kitchen)
1 ½ pounds cherry tomatoes
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon zest, finely chopped
½ cup white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons shallots, finely diced
1 teaspoon salt
Lime juice to taste (optional)
Freshly cracked black pepper
Cheese, for serving (I used mozzarella)
In a saucepan combine the cherry tomatoes, sugar, olive oil, lemon zest, white wine vinegar, shallots and salt. Bring to a medium simmer and cook until the tomatoes begin to split. They will release a lot of water and the mixture will have a significant increase in liquid. Turn the flame down to low and simmer until the jam has thickened and most of the liquid is reduced, about seventy minutes. (Use your best judgment here, I found that even 40 minutes was too long). As the liquid reduces, mix regularly taking care to not let the sugars burn on the bottom of the pan. Remove from the heat and cool completely. Finish with a squeeze of fresh lime juice if desired and some freshly cracked black pepper to taste. Makes one pint.
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