We love eating them raw, but occasionally we cook them into a semi-dried or "Mi-cuit" state. Doing this with them concentrates the flavour. Earlier this week I prepared a batch. This is how I did it.
I used a shallow baking tray. I lightly oiled it with olive oil, covered it with halved tomatoes (mostly the little "Maskotka" and "Tumbling Junior Yellow" ones), and sprinkled the toms with a little salt, a few drops of olive oil and a either a tiny pinch of dried Oregano or a couple of flakes of dried chilli (I did one tray of each actually). Here's one of the trays just before it went into the oven:
I cooked the tomatoes ("warmed" would perhaps be more accurate) in a very low oven for about three hours, checking them every half-hour or so. When they are done they are soft and gooey, but not crispy or burned. A little tip: try to use tomatoes that are as nearly as possible all the same size. I found that one or two of the very small ones went dry before the bigger ones were ready.
This is the end result:
These were mostly eaten the same evening as they were made, as part of of a Middle Eastern-style meal, though they will (if allowed) keep for a couple of days in a sealed box in the fridge, or for a few weeks if you immerse them in olive oil. They are really yummy served as a "nibble" with a drink before dinner.
I think they would also be useful for livening-up almost any pasta dish.
Doesn't that last picture make your eyes go funny???
They look delicious. I think I may try this myself.
ReplyDeletelooks like a good idea - we roast tomatoes before freezing in a similar way.
ReplyDeleteThey do look wonderful!
ReplyDeleteLooks absolutely delicious. I've tried sun drying my tomatoes as we get plenty of sun round the year. But the oven is a better option even for me as there's no risk of the squirrels and crows disturbing them.
ReplyDeleteOh Mark, I am halfway around the world and I just did EXACTLY the same thing! Well, not quite, but almost :) Yours look wonderful, and I'll bet they were full of flavour.
ReplyDeleteFabulously great minds really do think alike :)
I don't know about my eyes, but my tummy is most certainly grumbling for your tomatoes! They look amazing.
ReplyDeleteFunny, I made a couple of trays of these on Friday evening too. Great minds...!
ReplyDeleteThe ones we didn't eat I pressed through a nylon sieve to make tomato puree to freeze for the winter.
Yours look very colourful and tasty.
Sara
Yummmm - my daughter is always on at me to do oven dried tomatoes - I dont know if you can get the variety Principe Borghese in the UK but they are my favourite variety to dry - I think because the plants tend to produce fairly uniformly sized small tomatoes.
ReplyDeletelove love a sundried tomato - we did them on top of the caravan one hot year, truly sun dried. have a dehydrator now - so good to have a way of preserving the glut.
ReplyDeleteThose do look good, quite a colorful display...love the looks of that little Wilma plant.
ReplyDelete