Anticiplate

Cafe Lago kept presenting itself to me in many ways. First, the owner’s brother works as one of our stage crew at the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Everyone at the ballet knows that I am a foodie, so I had been told many times about the restaurant by many of the stage crew. I just never got around to going there.

Second, I read about the restaurant in the most recent issue of Bon Appetit. And, the most important is that my favorite blogger, Molly Wizenberg, at Orangette, wrote about it and her favorite recipe on her blog today. Well, I guess that was not much of a coincidence because she was also the one who wrote the article in Bon Appetit.

So, when I went last week, I had to try the recipe that Molly had raved about in her monthly column. It was stunning, just as promised, but that was not all. The food and wine was out of this world. Our waitress even recommended a wine that came specifically from her Grandmother’s small Italian town.

And, I had been resisting for so long….

Here is my attempt at Cafe Lago’s recipe. I will have to go back soon to see if I am even in the ballpark.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Inactive Cook time: 2 hours

Serves 6

Adapted from Bon Appetit

1 c. olive oil, divided

2 pounds Roma (Plum) tomatoes, halved lengthwise, and seeded

1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano

3/4 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

2 tsp. flat leaf parsley, minced

Goat cheese

1 baguette, thinly sliced cross wise and toasted

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Pour 1/2 c. olive oil in a 13×9 inch glass or ceramic pan. Arrange tomatoes cut side up. Drizzle with remaining olive oil. Sprinkle with oregano, sugar, and salt. Bake for 1 hour. Using tongs, turn tomatoes over. Bake for another hour. Turn tomatoes over again. Bake for another 15 to 45 minutes until tomatoes or deep red and very tender.

Transfer tomatoes to a plate and top with garlic and parsley. Drizzle tomatoes with some of the reserve oil in the baking dish. Let stand at room temperature for 2 hours.

Served on slices of a toasted baguette spread with goat cheese. Top with the pomodoro.