Oven Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

"A good time was had by all." Stevie Smith

Well, last night I worked a catering event in Toronto. My friend was in a pinch and the catering company she was working for needed a hand. Why not? I am freelance these days and I might as well make some money! The event was at the Ontario Science Centre. It was the 'LG Innovator's Ball'. A night of dancing, drinking and eating, with a 'Midnight Spell' theme...
When I pulled up, I was told to park straight ahead. Okay! I got my gear and headed towards the front doors. Limousines were lined up by the mile, valet parking attendants scrambling, a big red carpet, photographers and me. Hmm, I was tempted to walk the red carpet inside but decided to find the side door instead! I got in and found the cafeteria kitchen downstairs and saw my friends Kathryn and Michael (I have worked around the city with them for the last 4 years!). We were in charge of hors d'oeuvres all night. Fun! Five different pieces were on our menu, 800 pieces of each (the Ball was expecting 1500 guests!). The ingredients were prepared, our job was to put together the final product. Chef Lutz gave us a quick run through of our menu and showed us an example of each of the hors d'oeuvres. He was quite busy. There were also five different stations of food to get organized and about fifteen other catering Chefs that needed his assistance. We all had two hours to prepare our food and get it out to our guests. The hors d'oeuvres were: mini chicken taco in cone, sushi pizza with salmon, mini rice cake with avocado and caviar, fillet Mignon bites with a maple jus and mini polenta cakes with a herbed goats cheese and yummy roasted cherry tomatoes (pictured above). They were all really good! With the music of the Ball in the background all night, Kathryn and I were curious! We took a quick break and venture out into the event! A D.J. spinning dance hits with a band playing along wearing mysterious masks on a stage, lights, smoke machines and dressed up people everywhere! Quite the party! We headed back to the kitchen to clean up. Slowly, one by one the Chefs from the food stations started to filter back and we knew our night was almost over. We all organized the equipment, put it back on the truck, gave the kitchen a quick cleaning and we were done! It was 1:30am after all and a lot of the people who were there had to be back at work this morning. Oh man, it definitely has it's benefits to be freelance!! Tee hee!

Simple and Tasty Recipe:

Oven Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
(makes approx. 1 1/2 cups)

1 pint cherry toms, halved lengthwise
2 to 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Toss the halved tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl.
Spread out single layer on a tray and roast for 30 to 35 mins. Enjoy!

So, today I am off to the land to build a compost with my Dad. We are going to start it now with the hopes of having it ready for next season. I'll probably continue my John Deere mowing adventure while my Dad continues to till the garden. We will probably get some seeds in as well! It's gonna be a good day in the country, I can almost smell the fresh air now! Have a great weekend and Happy Mother's Day to all of you Mother's out there! Till Monday, my followers!