Thursday, August 14, 2008

Drying Out

I'm back from Niagara Falls, and bringing you more of my favourite veggifruit! Yes, more tomatoes! Sorry, but when you're as deep in them as I am lately, they tend to dominate the kitcheny universe!

Having already filled my slow-cooker with tomatoes to make passata, I figured I would take a cue from David (from Wish I Were Baking...) and dry some of them out for salads and pasta. Heck, most of these babies never made it to a salad or bowl of spaghetti - they're like candy! Just as sweet and addicting, but without the whole sugar-rush and extra caloric thing happening.

I took the basic method from Trattoria by Patricia Wells and let them sit in the oven all day while I ran around packing for my trip, which I'll tell you all about later. Can you tell I like lazy cooking?

Oven-Dried Tomatoes
As many "meaty" tomatoes as you want to preserve (I used baby Romas, they're about cherry-size)
  1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.
  2. Halve each tomato lengthwise. Arrange the tomatoes, cut side up, on a parchment lined baking sheet.
  3. Place in the lower rack of the oven and bake until the tomatoes are shriveled and feel dry, anywhere from 6 to 12 hours (mine took about 12 hours, and some could have gone longer).
  4. Check the tomatoes from time to time: They should remain pliable.
  5. Once dried, remove the tomatoes from the oven and store in a Ziploc.

3 comments :

  1. two things-
    one- i had fun with you in niagara falls everything was good and even the states park
    two- these were so tasty sorry i stole some lol

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  2. Yum. This looks great! And what a great sign of the abundance of summer. Tomatoes for drying!

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  3. If you dry them face up they take longer - plus they kind of curl up, like raisins. If you get a tray liner for a dehydrator (sold separately, as they get gunky over time) you can use that instead of the parchment, and can place the liner on a stiffer wire mesh screen, and then place them face down, you'd have tomato chips! They dry faster, and perfectly flat.

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Thanks for the feedback!