Confit Tomatoes: Dominique Crenn’s Tomato Illuminated Recipe

Dominique Crenn is an award-winning chef and advocate for sustainability and equity in the culinary world. Growing up in the Brittany region in northwest France, Chef Crenn spent many hours working in her grandmother’s potato fields, foraging for mushrooms with her father and brother, and partaking in her family’s Sunday dinners. Her father’s best friend, a restaurant critic in Brittany, sometimes brought her along on his tasting trips. These experiences sparked her imagination and taught Chef Crenn to think of cooking as a form of storytelling. All of these memories, and the familial and communal love they evoked, would become touchstones in her cooking.

Though she is now among the world’s most celebrated chefs, her path to culinary greatness was not without its challenges. After being turned away from many French culinary schools due to antiquated opinions about female chefs, Chef Crenn set out for California, where she forged her own culinary identity rooted in personhood, memories, and mindfulness.

In San Francisco, Chef Crenn honed her skills at fine dining establishments before eventually opening her own restaurant, Atelier Crenn, in 2011 (named for her father’s painting studio in Brittany). Atelier Crenn’s reputation grew year by year: It received one Michelin star in 2011, two in 2012, and finally the highest honor of three stars in 2018. At the restaurant, diners receive a poem instead of a menu, with each dish represented by a line of poetry. Chef Crenn describes her practice of tying food to language as “poetic culinaria.”

Tomato confit is a dish of slow-roasted tomatoes in olive oil with aromatics like garlic and fresh herbs, softened over a few hours in a low oven. Tomato confit both extends the life of fresh tomatoes and deepens their innate sweetness, resulting in a complex flavor profile that suits many uses.

“Confit” is a French term that refers to an ingredient preserved in fat—either its own, as with duck confit, or in olive oil, like Chef Thomas Keller’s eggplant confit or Yotam Ottolenghi’s confit garlic.

Confit is a simple French culinary technique that can enhance the flavor of many ingredients. Use these tips to guide you during the process.

1. 1. Use cherry tomatoes. Tomato confit is easiest to make with smaller tomatoes. Make cherry tomato confit on a large rimmed baking sheet (rather than a deep baking dish), so you don't have to cut the tomatoes. Use larger heirloom tomatoes in fresh applications. Chef Crenn’s tomato confit recipe calls for Sungold tomatoes, a very sweet, golden-hued cherry tomato. If you can find Sungolds at the grocery store or farmers’ market, they will give the dish a beautiful color.
2. 2. Blanch and peel the tomatoes. Briefly cooking the tomatoes in hot water (a technique known as blanching) makes them easier to peel. This extra step will give your tomato confit a smoother texture and attractive presentation.
3. 3. Add your favorite aromatics. Aromatics are flavorful ingredients you can use to infuse the cooking oil as you make tomato confit. Chef Crenn’s tomato confit recipe features garlic cloves, shallot, basil, and lemon peel, but you can add other herbs, like fresh thyme sprigs, or spices like red pepper flakes.

Tomato confit is a versatile condiment to have on hand. In her Tomato Illuminated recipe, Chef Crenn pairs tomato confit with dehydrated tomato petals and tomato vinaigrette, but there are much simpler ways to enjoy confit tomatoes. Try them in:

1. 1. Bruschetta: This Italian appetizer traditionally features slices of grilled bread (crostini) rubbed with garlic and topped with chopped plum tomatoes. Level up the flavor by swapping tomato confit for the fresh tomatoes. A slick of ricotta or goat cheese helps the tomatoes adhere to the bread.
2. 2. Caprese: Fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, and balsamic vinegar come together in this quintessentially Italian side dish. To make a Caprese salad in winter, use confit tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes.
3. 3. Pasta: Use tomato confit instead of tomato sauce or pesto to coat freshly boiled pasta. Coat spaghetti liberally in olive oil before topping it with a spoonful of tomato confit and a shower of Parmesan cheese. Finish the confit with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt and crushed red pepper for heat.

Make incisions in the tomatoes, then blanch, shock, and peel them.

Season the tomatoes with shallots, lemon, basil, garlic, and kosher salt.

Gently pour the oil over the tomatoes until they’re completely submerged. Bake the tomatoes in a 250-degree oven until they have softened slightly to the touch, about one hour.

Mix sherry vinegar with 2 tablespoons of the oil from the finished tomato confit.

Garnish the confit tomatoes with dehydrated tomato petals and a drizzle of the vinaigrette.