Mozzarella and Slow-cooked Tomatoes

It's been rather gloomy here the past few days, and I thought why not bring the summer inside. So, I cooked this simple mozzarella and slow cooked tomatoes. OK, the tomatoes take 3 hours to cook, but in the meantime, you could be doing other things. For me it's house chores or just about anything but the actual work I should be doing.

To serve this "summer on a plate", grill slices of country bread, then rub one side of each bread with garlic and drizzle with good olive oil. Pour yourself a well-chilled drinks and enjoy.

Mozzarella and Slow-cooked Tomatoes
Recipe by Stéphane Reynaud
Serves 6

12 heirloom tomatoes
8 garlic cloves
80 ml olive oil
fleur de sel
1 tablespoon herbes de Provence
6 balls buffalo mozzarella
1 bunch basil, leaves picked

Preheat the oven to 100 C. Place the tomatoes in a roasting tin. Peel and chop the garlic, scatter the garlic over the tomatoes, add the olive oil, the fleur de sel and the herbes de Provence. Bake for 3 hours.

To serve, place 1 ball of mozzarella and 2 lukewarm tomatoes in each serving bowl and add some cooking juices and basil leaves.