Oven Dried Tomatoes
Dried tomatoes are easy. If you have a tomato, slice it and lie it in the sun ... you'll get ... A SUN DRIED TOMATO!
I'm personally a bit leery of leaving things out the sun, especially things I plan to eat. So, I use an oven. Some might use a dehydrator, or ... a fan beneath a pile of stacked vents, or a blow dryer. Again, I opt for the oven, and tend to put a little extra goodness on my tomatoes, but ... that's just me.
As a general rule, you want your tomatoes to all be the same size and thickness, as much as possible. I've done this with large slices of tomatoes, on a rack. This usually creates large dried "wheels". While tasty, they're a bit leathery and large. Not as practical as a smaller tomato. More often than not, I go for small cherry-like tomatoes. Normally, you can find a "variety pack" of multi-colored cherry tomatoes. You can also go to a farmers market and pick out a nice assortment of the larger, plumper, small tomato varieties. The really tiny ones are tough to work with. You want something like the size of a super large grape.
Here's a basket of perfect candidates:
Just a random thought ... I initially thought this might be one of those random recipes that no one would ever make themselves, but ... truth-be-told, I make these quite often. They're quick to prepare, and then it becomes a "set it and forget it" kind of thing. Interestingly, my own mother makes them! It's one of the many ways she gets my father to eat something resembling vegetables! He likes them dried and coated with cheese, then tossed into his salads. Me too!
I use these in sandwiches, tossed with pasta, tossed in a salad, as a base for an oven dried tomato pesto, tossed into a tomato sauce to tighten it up, etc. Many uses for a simple dried tomato!
One Trick: Often, I will make my tomatoes and place them into the oven at night. I will put the oven on the lowest setting (warm), for about 30 minutes. Then, I will turn the oven completely off and go to bed. In the morning ... Oven Dried Tomatoes!
I'm personally a bit leery of leaving things out the sun, especially things I plan to eat. So, I use an oven. Some might use a dehydrator, or ... a fan beneath a pile of stacked vents, or a blow dryer. Again, I opt for the oven, and tend to put a little extra goodness on my tomatoes, but ... that's just me.
As a general rule, you want your tomatoes to all be the same size and thickness, as much as possible. I've done this with large slices of tomatoes, on a rack. This usually creates large dried "wheels". While tasty, they're a bit leathery and large. Not as practical as a smaller tomato. More often than not, I go for small cherry-like tomatoes. Normally, you can find a "variety pack" of multi-colored cherry tomatoes. You can also go to a farmers market and pick out a nice assortment of the larger, plumper, small tomato varieties. The really tiny ones are tough to work with. You want something like the size of a super large grape.
Here's a basket of perfect candidates:
Just a random thought ... I initially thought this might be one of those random recipes that no one would ever make themselves, but ... truth-be-told, I make these quite often. They're quick to prepare, and then it becomes a "set it and forget it" kind of thing. Interestingly, my own mother makes them! It's one of the many ways she gets my father to eat something resembling vegetables! He likes them dried and coated with cheese, then tossed into his salads. Me too!
I use these in sandwiches, tossed with pasta, tossed in a salad, as a base for an oven dried tomato pesto, tossed into a tomato sauce to tighten it up, etc. Many uses for a simple dried tomato!
One Trick: Often, I will make my tomatoes and place them into the oven at night. I will put the oven on the lowest setting (warm), for about 30 minutes. Then, I will turn the oven completely off and go to bed. In the morning ... Oven Dried Tomatoes!
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time6 hrs
Total Time6 hrs 35 mins
Servings: 4 Servings
Calories: 79.8675kcal
Ingredients
- 1 lb assorted small tomatoes washed and dried
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp fresh oregano (thyme rosemary, sage and/or marjoram), rough chop
- 2 each garlic clove minced
- salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup parmesan (reggiano) cheese grated
Instructions
- Place your oven on the lowest setting. You want the oven "warm", but not hot.
- Cut them each in half, lengthwise. If they're much larger than a ping pong ball, you may want to cut them into quarters, lengthwise.
- Place them into a bowl and gentle mix them with the olive oil, herbs, garlic and salt and pepper.
- On an oven rack, over a baking tray (or parchment or a silicon baking mat, which is what I use ...), place your tomatoes. Make sure each tomato has its cut surface facing up. The skin side should be down. Also, make sure that there is space between each tomato. They should not be touching one another.
- With your fingers, put a little pinch of grated parmesan cheese onto each of them.
- Place the tray into the oven.
- All ovens are a little different. All I can suggest is that you watch them, from here. The lowest setting will give you the best results, but will also take the longest. This is usually a 6 to 12 hour process, in a warm oven. It can be done at higher heats, but there is usually a little more moisture inside the tomatoes, while the outside tends to pick up some brown coloring on the cheese. From here, it's personal preference.
- Once they're dried to your liking, eat them! I usually make big batches and have them in an airtight container in the fridge, then just throw them into things, much in the same way I do with bacon bits ...
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Serving: 4g | Calories: 79.8675kcal | Carbohydrates: 5.235g | Protein: 3.6525g | Fat: 5.1975g | Fiber: 1.3175g