Confit garlic with roasted tomatoes on toast

Method

• step 1

  Heat the oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Cut the garlic bulbs horizontally across the tops, so that all of the cloves are revealed, and sit them snugly into a small, deep roasting tin. Add the thyme sprigs and a generous pinch of salt, and pour over the oil until the bulbs are nearly submerged, adding a little more if needed. Cook for an hour or until the cloves are really soft.

• step 2

  Put the cherry tomatoes cut-side up into a roasting tin and sprinkle with salt. Put into the oven for the final 25 minutes of the garlic’s cooking time.

• step 3

  Use a spatula to lift the garlic bulbs from the oil and cool slightly. Squeeze the cloves from their skins onto the toasted sourdough and pile on the tomatoes, along with a little of the garlic-perfumed oil (keep the rest for cooking – it will keep for two weeks in the fridge).