Tomato confit

Make these and you’ll never buy sun-dried tomatoes again. They are slow-cooked tomatoes, with garlic, thyme, and olive oil and the long but simple process turns tomatoes into candy. At that point you can serve them by themselves, use them as a garnish for many dishes (especially those with white fish, for which they have both flavor and visual affinities), or include them in salads, as we do here.

We begin with straightforward tomato confit, then go to a quick and easy combination of confit with summer squashes and lots of lemon juice, then to a layered “napoleon” with crabmeat an amazing shrimp cocktail and finally, a wonderful potato salad with scallops. In each, the confited tomatoes shine brightly.