Roasted Roma Tomatoes

This is a good way to make not very good tomatoes much better. I served them in pasta with olive oil, pepper, ricotta salata, fresh basil and Italian parsley. They can also be a side vegetable by themselves.

Roasted Roma Tomatoes
From Linda

roma tomatoes
herbs, such as fresh thyme or dried Herbes de Provence
salt
pepper
olive oil

Oil a baking sheet with a couple tablespoons or so of the olive oil. (It's not a bad idea to line the baking sheet with foil first.)

Slice the tomatoes in half, length-wise, and lay them out on the pan, cut side up. Sprinkle the tomatoes with the herbs, salt and pepper.

Roast in a pre-heated 475 F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 300 F and roast for another couple hours or so, depending on their size.

"BBQ" Braised Pork

Make a dry rub with:

paprika
garlic powder
dark brown sugar
dry mustard
sea salt

Smear the dry rub on all sides of a:

5 to 7 pound pork shoulder

Let marinate for several hours or overnight, if possible, although I did not when I tried this.

Make the barbeque sauce by mixing these ingredients to taste in a bowl:

1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup yellow or brown mustard (I substituted dry mustard)
1/2 cup ketchup (I substituted about 2 Tb tomato paste)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
dash worstershire sauce
dash tobasco

Taste and adjust the seasonings and sweetness as desired. Add anything else you like.

Heat some vegetable oil in a large, heavy pot. Brown the pork on all sides, being careful that the rub doesn't burn. Remove pork and set aside. Pour off oil.

Add:

1 onion, peeled, then cut in half and sliced thinly

Sautee the onion a minute or two, stirring and scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Add the barbeque sauce you made, bring to a boil. Place the pork on top of the onions. The sauce should come up 1/2 to 3/4 of the side of the pork.

Cover and simmer for as long as you can stand. The meat should be very tender when done and falling off the bone. Anywhere from 3 to 6 hours. You can flip the meat once or twice, if you like, but you don't have to.

When it's done, remove the meat. Let sit a few minutes then slice to serve. Boil down the sauce (including the onions in it) to the desired thickness and serve with the meat.