| This is one of those recipes you see and think, That sounds so bizarre that I must try it! I'm really thankful that my mother did just that, because it is right this very instant tomato season, this dish is absolutely incredible, and Mom is making it almost every night.
The best thing about this dish besides the intense depth of flavor is that it could be cooked all year round. Unlike regular tomatoes, cherry and grape
tomatoes are easily obtainable year-round and are almost always sweet and delicious. I haven't yet tried this recipe with grape tomatoes, but I'd think the cooking time would be a bit longer due to the meatier texture of grape tomato flesh. Another best thing about this dish, which has lots of best things about it, is that it takes only about 10 minutes to cook from start to finish.
Because the tomatoes are essentially stewed, the sugars in the fruit become more apparent than when the tomatoes are raw. Cooked, the tomatoes explode langourously in your mouth, spreading their delightful juices across your palate. Once it all cooks down, you're left with a skillet full of a sweet, rich broth and tomatoes whose flesh is meltingly scrumptious.
This dish matches beautifully with any sort of pasta dish, particularly with pastas that have a creamy, non-tomato base. It could probably be served right over some nice al dente fettucine pasta, actually, though you might want to thicken the sauce a bit with mashed potato flakes if you're going to try that. Goes well with fish, chicken, beef - just about anything. It's an excellent side dish in general and will get you lots of compliments if you bring it to a potluck dinner.
Cherry Tomatoes in Cream
You'll need the following ingredients:
- 3 Tablespoons butter
- 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons brown sugar (you can use up to 3 T. of sugar, but I don't like it quite that sweet)
- 1/2 Teaspoon salt, and more to taste after cooking
- 2 Pints cherry (or grape) tomatoes (the fresher and thinner-skinned they are, the better)
- 1 Pint heavy cream (this is not a recipe to count calories with. Use heavy cream or don't bother cooking it; even half-and-half won't give you the same results.)
Melt the butter in a heavy skillet with the sugar and salt.
Add tomatoes. Bring the beautiful mess to a solid simmer.
Keep a close watch on the beauties. Stir gently while they heat up and pay attention when they begin to split and release their juices.
Once a few tomatoes have split open, add the heavy cream. Cook them for about three more minutes in the cream until they are all squishy and delicious and the cream has formed a tighter sauce.
Stir gently, re-season with salt, then serve. I won't yell at you if you want to add a little black pepper, too. A chiffonade of basil sprinkled in right at the end would give it a nice bright flavor boost as well. Would be lovely over rice, pasta, or as a side dish to almost anything at all.
Enjoy! | 
