Friday, February 20, 2009

Oven Dried Tomatoes

I have definitely been blessed this year with an abundance of tomatoes. The tomato plants that I planted in the fall have served me well (that is the tomatoes that great, big, huge mutt hasn't eaten!) but my CSA has also been sending me some. As an added bonus when I visited Jaden from Steamy Kitchen I left her place with a bag of sweet little juicy tomatoes.

Well, all of these tomatoes have been adding up on my counter and I had to do something with them before they rotted. The large ones were processed using my food mill and frozen for sauce and the little ones I had decided to dry them. I knew that sun drying was not going to work out but had heard that you could easily dry them in the oven. I consulted my favorite resource...Twitter! Follow me here! and Sandy from Eat Real gave me exactly what I was looking for.


I washed and dried the tomatoes. Threw out any of them with blemishes. I first did the Roma's I had. Sliced them and tossed them in olive oil and salt and pepper. Placed them on a baking rack and turned my oven on to 225 degrees. And I cooked them...and cooked them. I checked on them about hourly and turned them over half way through. I think in total they probably cooked for about 3 hrs.

The next ones I did were the cherry tomatoes. I halved them tossed them with the olive oil, salt and pepper and threw them in...

Almost done...

Done:

These are so delicious! I am storing them in the fridge right now covered in oil. I figured to help preserve them this is the best way! I have been using them on salads and in a pasta sauce that I will post later. They can be used in the exact same way as sundried tomatoes!!!

Oh and a Happy Belated birthday Mom...did you get the flowers I sent (just kidding!)?

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

19 comments:

Peter G | Souvlaki For The Soul said...

From one tomato lover to the other...these are beautiful Judy! And def very handy to have in the fridge!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

It is a toss up which is may favourite..potatoes, tomatoes or chicken. I would love to be able to make my own sundried tomatoes. Good work Judy!!

Brittany said...

You know, my friend just sent me an email last week about how to dry tomatoes in the oven, so this must be a sign!

Peter M said...

Judy, your tomatoes are a thing of beauty. This fall I'm going to slow dry some to have all winter.

RecipeGirl said...

These turned out gorgeous!! I did them once w/ Romas, but they weren't nearly this nice.

Elle said...

Judy, they look incredible! I have to get my butt in gear and try making these.

Anonymous said...

Look at them dermateys! So pretty. I haven't dried them before, so should try this. Of course I don't have tomato plants so maybe I should start there, huh?

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

Hey Peter G-Thanks so much. They have proven to be very handy!

Hey Val-If I can make these you can too and they go good with potatoes and chicken!!!

Hey Brittany-This is a sign!

Hey Peter-It's a great idea to preserve them for the year!

Hey RG-Thanks!

Hi Elle-If you use sundried these you have to do!

Hey Kelly-baby steps...buy them for now!

Thistlemoon said...

They look great Judy and this is exactly how I do mine! They are so sweet you can eat them like candy! Yummmm.

Patsyk said...

Wow! They look amazing! Soon as tomato season hits here, I'm going to do this as well.

Anonymous said...

They are wonderful, looks like sundried tomatoes. I have to learn for this coming summer.

Bob said...

I have just been getting into dried tomatoes, so this is perfect timing! I'll have to try them out. :)

Sandy Smith said...

Judy, your tomatoes make me feel like crying, they're so pretty. My little garden with its withered tomato plants is buried under half a foot of iced-over snow. I guess I'll live vicariously till I get to put in my own plants. Lucky you, with all those tomatoes for pasta and salads. (I tend to let mine get really, really crispy and then eat them all directly off the baking sheet. Shame on me.)

JoAnn said...

Those make my mouth water! Aww I'm completely out of all tomatoes, sauces and salsa! I'll have to come by! j/k!

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

You can also freeze them, which is what I do every summer. Then I have them in the middle of winter, when there's not a great tomato in sight in the markets.

Creative Classroom Core said...

Ive always made these in my dehydrator, but never in the oven... my dehydrator broke though, so I think I will give your idea a try! They look great!

Anonymous said...

They look fab! Due to cool climate and lack of a greenhouse, my tomato crop mostly stays green - so it ends up being preserved as pickles instead (also good, though :) )

amycaseycooks said...

I usually pick up too many tomatoes when i am shopping. Thanks for the idea!

Anonymous said...

If you grind them (not too finely though) along with dark olives, then add some olive oil and any spices or herbs you like... you get an excellent spread. Goes really with grilled meat and the like.