Monday, October 3, 2011

"Sun" Dried Tomatoes

  I LOVE fall, it's my favorite season and favorite time of year. But often fall seems to come late and winter early, and I know then this smiling jar of summer now in my fridge will be oh so welcome when the ground has frozen hard and my garden is in its deep slumber.
More of a technique than a recipe a good friend asked me about making sun dried tomatoes- so I thought I'd share what I know. I learned from some of the best pasta mamas in Italy, but adapted the technique for a more consistent, and sanitary, method using a dehydrator rather than the sun; hence the quotation marks in the title. First you simply cut the tomatoes in halves and trim out the cores. Any ripe tomatoes will do and while some like to seed and core I like the more rustic look and the sweeter taste of just the simple halves. They do take longer to dry this way, but the results are worth it.
Lightly salt the cut sides and place them cut side up on your racks for the dehydrator or if going old school place them on a large screen or parchment lined cookie sheets and place them in the sun EARLY as it will often take more than a day and then bring them in at night and repeat. In a dehydrator set the temperature for 140 degrees F and check them at 12 hrs and vary your time from there. Depending on the size of the tomatoes they will take approx. 14-18 hours. Once dried they should have a slightly crisp to a sort of leathery feel, they should not feel wet if they are fully done. Heat about 1C of olive oil and add 1 clove chopped garlic. (I like to use a tea ball for this so I don't have garlic pieces in my oil. Once the garlic turns lightly golden remove the oil from the heat and remove the garlic from the oil.
Cut the tomatoes with kitchen shears into strips or leave in halves if you prefer. then cover them with the garlic infused oil. I then like to add vegetable oil (enough to cover all the tomatoes) as it will keep the olive oil from clouding so badly in the refrigerator although you can use straight olive oil if you prefer. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use- although if you can wait a few weeks the garlic and tomatoes will blend in the oil and give you a two for one- sun dried tomatoes like you have never tasted and sun dried tomato garlic oil for dipping bread or drizzling on salad or mixing with goat cheese and topping crackers with both the cheese spread and the tomatoes . . . it'll take the chill right out of winter, I promise.

4 comments:

  1. I need to do this will all the extra end-of-season tomatoes. Thanks for putting up your process and the tips. This was one thing I didn't get to learn in Italy so I'm glad someone did! :)

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  2. Love this! I wish we were going to have time to can together while you are here. Can't wait to see you!

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  3. Hi! 'Just found your link through pinterest and love the idea...how long do you think these will keep in the fridge? Thanks, E

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  4. I have dehydrated toms before but didn't quite know how to put them in the oil,thanks,i'll be doing this trip all summer into fall.

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