Photo by Jeni Hill

Slow Roasted Tomato and Bacon Jam

By Jeni Hill
Food Editor

Tomatoes linger to the end of our growing season. Though tomatoes may be petering from your own garden, they are still readily available at the farmers markets. Now that it’s nearing the end of fall, you may be experiencing tomato fatigue. After all, how many variations of tomato soup, spaghetti sauce, and salsa do you really want to stomach? Tomatoes may be nearing their winter hiatus, but that doesn’t eliminate the supply you may have jarred.

One evening, I caught an episode of Eat Street, a series on the Cooking Channel that highlights the burgeoning street food explosion. Skillet, a food truck from Seattle, WA was featured slathering a thick “Bacon Jam” on juicy burgers. It seemed the whole city was crooning over this mysterious bacon jam, a concept I had never seen or tasted.

Weeks later, the words “bacon jam” still circled my mind and I set-off to create my own version. The recipes I found used similar ingredients so I adapted a version from “Not Quite Nigella,” to match my own tastes available at the following link: http://tiny.cc/notquitenigella

My recipe incorporates slowly roasted tomatoes. Ridiculously slow roasted at a low temperature for two-three hours. The slow roasting process creates an intense flavor and sticky, drippy texture, opposite of those sour, leathery strips that chefs are happy to throw into any and every pasta dish. The end product is a thick, sweet, bacon-essenced spread. You can make the jam as tangy or spicy as your heart desires.

Enjoy this spread on a burger or between a grilled cheese sandwich. I created a stunning grilled cheese sandwich with sourdough bread, bacon jam and cranberry cheddar. You could also mix the jam into cream cheese or sour cream for a simple dip and spread it atop meatloaf as it bakes in the oven, combine into corn bread, or melt into a sauce.

All of the ingredients will eventually be blended, so you can roughly chop them. Again, feel free to use canned tomatoes, other varieties and shapes, or a different proportion of tomatoes to bacon. Just simmer the mixture until unctuously reduced. 

Ingredients:
Oil
11 Roma tomatoes, halved and mostly de-seeded.
Cracked black pepper
1 lb of smoked bacon, cut into small pieces
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 1/3 cup coffee (the stronger, the better)
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/8-1/4 cup of honey, maple syrup, or brown sugar (I used a mixture of honey and maple syrup. I thought a ¼ cup made the mixture quite sweet, however my significant other disagreed.)
Hot sauce of your choice. (I used Tabasco brand Habenero)

Slow roasted tomatoes:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Place the tomato halves on the greased sheet pan, cut side up. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with pepper. Roast for approximately two hours. The tomatoes should be shriveled yet juicy.  You can easily remove the flesh from its skin, or leave as is.

Jam:
In a pot, render the bacon pieces until brown and crispy, stirring occasionally. Remove bacon from pan. Remove at least half of the grease leaving about a 1/2 cup. Use the extra bacon grease to brown meats, cook pancakes or French toast, etc.

In the pot, sauté the onion until translucent. Add the chopped garlic and stir until fragrant but not brown. Add the coffee, vinegar, sweetener, hot sauce, roasted tomatoes, and extra black pepper to taste.  Re-incorporate the rendered bacon and stir. Taste and adjust to your preferences.

Gently simmer the mixture for two hours or until most of the liquid is reduced. If the mixture dries-up too quickly, you may add water.

In small batches, pulse the mixture in a blender or food processor until you like the texture.  Place in a container and store in your refrigerator. This recipe makes about 12 oz. of jam.

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[Editor’s Note: Jeni Hill is an herbalist and food blogger. She has apprenticed for 
Registered Herbalist Lise Wolff and participated in a summer internship at Spoonriver. For More on Jeni Hill visit ]]http://herbalisteats.blogspot.com]