The most dramatic example of the power of roasting is roasted tomatoes. Plum tomatoes from the grocery store have absolutely no flavor—in summer or winter. If you bite into a raw one blindfolded, I’m not even sure you could identify it as a tomato. But toss it in olive oil, sprinkle it with salt and pepper, and slow-roast it to caramelize the sugars in the tomatoes, and they taste like the best summer tomatoes you’ve ever eaten. It’s like magic!
