Saturday, August 10, 2013

Dried Tomatoes

What do you do when you've got some slightly old Roma tomatoes hanging around?  Apart from making them into a sauce or freezing them?   I had some of those this week.  The skins were starting to wrinkle and I wasn't using them for anything, so I tried making some dried tomatoes.  




I have several recipes that call for sun-dried tomatoes, and thought I would try my hand at making some, since they're not that easy to come by in my corner of the world, well not without driving a distance that is.

So I sliced up the tomatoes, I only had four, and spread them out on a parchment lined baking sheet. 
Drizzled them with a little olive oil, and then salted them, very, very, very lightly with sea salt. 















Put them in the oven for an hour or so at 350 degrees and this is what came out.  Some of the slices were a little well done, but the majority, were just about right.   They actually did go in for longer, and I should have checked them a little sooner, cause some of them were a little browner but I ate the evidence so just ignore the darker ones on the picture. 

I wanted them just a little bit drier, so after letting the oven cool off for a few minutes, I put the pan back inside and left them to cool.   They tasted wonderful.    So good in fact that, only about half of them made it into a ziploc bag and into the freezer for further cooking adventures.   







And of course after taste testing a few, I decided I wanted something a little more substantial, so I made an over the top grilled cheese sandwich and added a few slices of my just dried tomatoes.  
I had some multi grain bread, colby jack cheese and mozzarella cheese.   I smeared the outside of the bread with some Mayo, yes, I said Mayo and proceeded to grill them in a medium pan.
And it was good. 
The tomato added a really nice note, a little different from fresh tomatoes, but I think I like it.  

So the next time you have some tomatoes languishing, feeling unloved, try this out.   I know it's not going to be the last time I do this one.  

Sidsel Munkholm - Author
Sidsel Munkholm - Author

Sid loves to cook, feed people and have fun in the kitchen. She shares her successes and the involuntary offerings she sometimes gives the kitchen goddess as well. And she's still looking for the mythical fairy to help her clean the kitchen after a marathon cooking session. Currently working on a cookbook showcasing the recipes from her Danish heritage.

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