burst tomatoes.

There's something odd about whipping out a camera at the dinner table and photographing my meal, but I'm getting over it. When most everything that passes under my lens tends to be golden-brown thanks to my baking addiction, the spring green and cherry red of last night's supper were a welcome sight. It's finally breached 80 degrees yesterday, I think it's safe to say summertime is finally here, thank goodness. I spent the better part of my day pondering summery-foods and nothing announces summer better than tomatoes. Except maybe watermelon. But that's beside the point.

It seemed impossible that something this easy could be this delicious, a sort of Rubik's cube in the world of roasted vegetables (I know, it's technically a fruit, but I just can't handle that). But sitting on the patio table yesterday afternoon, smooshing the candy-sweet cherry tomatoes with the back of my fork and thanking God it's finally warm outside, was perfect.

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

2 big handfuls cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
Sprinkle of kosher salt
Cracked black pepper
10 sprigs fresh thyme

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a small baking dish, toss tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper. Wedge the sprigs of thyme in between the tomatoes, leaving a few right on top. Roast for 15-20 minutes until the meat starts to peek out from under the tomato skins and the thyme is fragrant. Allow to cool for a few minutes before digging in, nothing will ruin the start of summer like a scorched tongue.

These are particulary delicious with parmesean crusted chicken and Bibb lettuce-no dressing required; just squeeze a lemon over the buttery leaves and sprinkle with extra parmesean cheese.