Sunday Brunch: Tomato-Basil Marmalade

Ingredients

• 2 cups basil loosely packed
• 8  beefsteak tomatoes cored cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 0.5 cup brown sugar light packed
• 3 servings canola oil 
• 0.5 cup fennel bulb chopped
• 2 medium garlic clove thinly sliced
• 3 servings kosher salt 
• 0.5 cup leek white green chopped ( and palest parts only)
• 0.5 cup onion chopped
• 1 cup red wine vinegar 

Equipment

• frying pan
• sauce pan
• oven
• slotted spoon

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°.
2. Put the fennel, onion, leeks and garlic in a 3-4 quart ovenproof saucepan and toss with a couple of glugs of oil until evenly coated.
3. Sprinkle with salt. Roast for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring every 15 minutes, until soft and lightly caramelized. Discard any bits that get charred.
4. Add the brown sugar and vinegar to the pan, stir, and cook 20 minutes more.
5. Stir in the tomatoes and cook for an hour and a half, stirring every 30 minutes. Taste the marmalade: if it still tastes strongly of vinegar, continue cooking until that flavor mellows.
6. Use a slotted spoon to put the tomatoes into a storage container. Alternate spoonfuls of tomato with basil leaves. When all the tomatoes are in the jar, tamp them down a bit with the spoon and then pour over cooking liquid just to cover. (I ended up with only a spoonful or two of extra cooking liquid, but my tomatoes were rather juicy themselves, so it didn’t seem to matter.)
7. Cover, let cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate for up to a month. When serving remove the basil leaves, which will have turned rather dingy.