For the budino:

Make the compote: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut cherry tomatoes into sixths, place seed-side-up on mesh rack, sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar on tomatoes. Place in oven with cookie sheet below it. Bake for 15 minutes and sprinkle 2 more tablespoons of sugar on the tomatoes. Bake until tomatoes are dry but not brittle, approximately 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

When tomatoes are almost dry, start the next steps of the compote. In a small saucepan, bring 1 cup water along with remaining sugar to a boil and add the chopped lemon with peel. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Add the roasted tomatoes and raisins to the mixture.

Cook until the mixture is bubbling fiercely and add the tomato puree, cooking 4 more minutes, stirring well with a heatproof spatula so the bottom of the pan does not scorch. Remove compote from heat and let cool to room temperature. Drizzle over budino (recipe follows).

To make the budino: Preheat oven to 325. Spray 8 ramekins with oil and line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper.

With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until completely blended. Add the mascarpone and beat until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping the sides of the bowl well. Add the lemon juice and the orange and lemon zests. Pour into the prepared ramekins. Place ramekins in a pan large and deep enough to pour in boiling hot water until it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake until set — 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool in the water bath.

Remove from the water bath and chill thoroughly before inverting them onto a plate. Discard parchment paper. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Serves 8.

Candy Barnhart of Maui won the soups and bisques category with this recipe that begins with seasoned and roasted tomatoes. Barnhart, who buys Hamakua tomatoes at her local Upcountry market on Maui, said she "likes to think of ways to give maximum flavor to a recipe, which is a challenge with soups and bisques because they tend to be either blah or overly salted." Her answer was roasting.

HAMAKUA DOUBLE TOMATO BISQUE

For the roasted tomatoes:

For the soup:

Optional topping:

To roast tomatoes: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Arrange tomatoes on a large, greased baking sheet in a single layer. (Editor's note: Line the pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil and you'll have much less of a cleaning chore; then grease it.) Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic, salt and sugar. Roast for 30 minutes or until tomatoes start to caramelize. Remove from oven.

Heat a large nonstick skillet to medium and saute onion, basil leaves, garlic and roasted tomatoes for 30 seconds. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes. Add chicken broth and tomatoes. Stir well. Simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and puree in blender. In a small bowl, blend sour cream and pesto. Thin the bisque as desired with sour cream-pesto mixture or to top bisque decoratively. Serve hot, at room temperature or even cold.

Serves 6.

Dr. Alan Fujimoto of Hilo entered the tomato contest as a joke on his friend, chef Alan Wong, who was serving as a judge. He figured Wong would get a good laugh if Fujimoto's entry happened to win, which one of the trio he entered did, in the entree category. The dish is a sort of ratatouille called a piperade (a Basque dish of tomatoes and peppers cooked in oil with other vegetables). It is actually based on the one celebrity chef Thomas Keller designed for the film of that name. You need a lot of good, sweet tomatoes for this; make it on a Saturday after a visit to the Kapi'olani Community College farmers market. Orzo is small, rice-shaped pasta.

ROASTED TOMATOES PIPERADE WITH TOMATO AND SPINACH ORZO

For the piperade:

For the entree:

For the orzo:

For the vinaigrette:

To make piperade: Roast the three bell peppers under a broiler or open flame until all the sides are blackened and charred. Immediately in zippered plastic bags, seal and allow to steam for about 15 minutes.

Place bacon strips flat on a baking sheet; put in cold oven. Turn the oven to 300 degrees and cook bacon till crisp. Drain bacon on paper towels, but reserve bacon fat remaining on sheet; set aside. Turn oven down to 275 degrees. When bacon is cool enough to handle, crumble or chop into small pieces and reserve.

Cut a small "X" cut in each end of the four small tomatoes and blanch in boiling water for a minute or two to loosen skin. Transfer to ice-cold water bath to stop cooking; drain and peel skin away carefully. Cut open tomato over strainer placed over a bowl. Remove the seeds but retain all tomato juices. Discard seeds and dice remaining pulp into small dice and combine with retained juices.

Remove peppers from plastic bags and use a paper towel to rub away charred places. Cut cleaned peppers open and discard ends, seeds and ribs. Finely dice peppers.

In a saute pan over medium heat, warm 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil. Add garlic and onion and gently saute until garlic is fragrant and onion is translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. Be careful not to burn garlic or brown onion. Add finely diced peppers, chopped tomatoes with retained juices and sprigs of thyme and parsley. Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are soft and falling apart, about 15 minutes. Remove mixture from heat and discard thyme and parsley sprigs. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

To prepare the tomatoes: Slice the heirloom tomatoes into 3/8-inch thick rounds and the sweet onion into paper-thin slices. Lightly oil a glass baking dish with remaining olive oil and ladle all but 6 tablespoons of the piperade into 4 small circles. Create 4 "flowerettes" of 4 or 5 overlapping tomato slices, alternating every other tomato slices with onion rounds on the piperade and smearing the top of the flowerettes with one tablespoon of the reserved piperade. Reserve the remaining 2 tablespoons of the piperade for the vinaigrette.

Cover the baking dish with foil and place into preheated 275 degree oven for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until tomato slices are just cooked through.

To prepare the orzo: Bring water seasoned with chicken bouillon and tomato juice to a boil. Quickly rinse orzo in cool water and add to boiling water mixture. Cook orzo until just tender, about 8 to 10 minutes, and drain in colander.

Meanwhile in a saute pan, add the extra-virgin olive oil and heat until just hot. Add garlic and simmer until fragrant and softened and add 1 teaspoon of the reserved bacon fat.

Turn the heat to medium, add orzo and spinach, heating just until spinach is wilted. Remove from heat, toss in tomato slices to warm. Taste, add salt and pepper as needed.

To prepare the vinaigrette: Combine extra-virgin olive oil, the reserved piperade, balsamic vinegar and shallots.

To assemble: Carefully place one of the flowerettes of the tomato and onions in the center of the plate. Spoon tomato and spinach orzo around the flowerette and drizzle a scant teaspoon of vinaigrette over, sprinkle crisp bacon on top of that and dust with freshly grated Reggiano Parmesan cheese. Garnish with a small sprig of thyme.

Serves 4.

Reach Wanda A. Adams at wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.