Oven Dried and Roasted Tomatoes.....

Oven Dried and Roasted Tomatoes 

The one thing I love about this time of year is looking forward to planting a garden. Nothing is better and more satisfying than growing your own food. There is no comparison to taking a fresh tomato from your garden, there is no match for the taste, you just can't buy it. With that said, when I saw these beauties I had to share them with you. 


My kids LOVE cherry tomatoes! This year I am going to plant some for them and so I can make this wonderful recipe. Sun dried tomatoes are not cheap to buy so this is a great way for you to save some extra money. 



Below you will find two separate recipes. 

Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and pour that yummy looking olive oil with

 garlic and seasoning on top. Can you imagine how good the kitchen must smell

l while these are cooking????

 Look at these beautiful things!

This recipe is from Cook Your Dream
(Excellent photography on this page.) 




Oven dried cherry tomatoes
for one 40x30cm baking tray 

50-60 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
enough olive oil to fill your jar

Preheat oven to 75°C.
In a small bowl, combine olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and oregano. Adjust seasoning to your liking. Place the tomatoes cut side up on a baking tray. Spoon the olive oil mixture over the tomatoes and bake for 4-5 hours, until they reach the desired level of dryness . Let them cool completely, then transfer to a clean jar. Fill the jar with olive oil, making sure the tomatoes are completely submerged. 
Keep the jar refrigerated and the tomatoes will last for at least a  month. 

Basil Mayo! 

 That just looks utterly delicious!


This wonderful recipe comes from Not Without Salt
(Photography amazing as well)

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

You can do this with essentially any tomato although the roasting time will vary. I used about 8 barely ripe Roma's. I sliced them ¼” thick and laid those on a parchment lined sheet tray with a few sprigs of thyme. After a very light drizzle of olive oil and a whisper of salt (remember these will reduce by quite a bit so don’t overdo it with the salt at this point) they go into a 225* for about 4 hours or until shriveled around the edge while still maintaining a bit of juice. Because of the low oven heat these do not color at all but rather slowly concentrate their flavors and intensify.

If you don’t use all of your tomatoes simply cover the leftover with olive oil and place in the fridge. In fact, I highly recommend making a very large batch as these little beauties will find many great uses (pasta, antipasti, straight from the jar, cheese tray, grilled cheese, etc.)

A few recipes with dried tomatoes

 SOURCE
A skinny alternative to Alfredo.

 

SOURCE

                                         SOURCE                                               SOURCE 

SOURCE

I hope you liked these and that you will consider doing a garden if you weren't planning on it.  If you only have a patio or small backyard consider container gardening. You will be glad you did. Have fun and enjoy the weather!


Thank you to Not Without Salt and Cook Your Dream for creating such beautiful pictures and recipes. 

Cute little things aren't they?

Thanks for stopping by!

 Dori