Easy Gourmet Sun Dried Tomatoes

A Personal Touch for Thanksgiving Dinner Side Dish Recipes

Nov 5, 2009

Sun dried tomatoes can be made in your kitchen anytime of year. An easy recipe makes a great addition to holiday recipes or dinner any time. Great holiday gift idea, too.

People think they need summer and sunshine to make sun-dried tomatoes, but that‘s not really necessary. All that’s really needed is a few kitchen items and a warm oven, no matter where in the world or how high the altitude. Any time of year works, too, this is an easy recipe for a condiment to Thanksgiving dinner side dishes.

Make sure the fruit is in the best possible state. It should be firm, plump, red and not orange-red, and free of spots, splits, scabs or punctures. Process them as soon as possible once the tomatoes come into the house so they won’t get over-ripe, as tomatoes continue to ripen after they’ve been picked.

Do not store them in the refrigerator and store them away from heat sources like sunny windows. Tomatoes ripen in the dark, so if they aren’t perfectly red, put them in a paper bag or a dark cupboard and they will ripen.

3.) Put aluminum foil over a baking sheet and wipe or spray it with olive oil. This will keep the dried tomato skins from sticking to the foil.

4.) This is a great way to use an abundance of cherry tomatoes, but any kind of tomato works. Cut them in half and remove the seeds and juice into a bowl. Save that for later use in juices, broth, stew or soup. Cut the cherry tomatoes into eight sections; halve the halves, then halve the quarters. Cut bigger tomatoes into strips about ¼ inch wide.

5.) Place the strips onto the foiled baking sheet and put as many as will fit on it. Don’t allow the strips to touch each other or they’ll stick together. That’s okay if they both dry at the same rate, but, sometimes one piece will dry slower than the other and turn brown by the time the other one dries just right.

6.) When the baking sheet is full put them in the warmed oven and set the timer for 90 minutes.

7.) When the timer goes off take the pan out of the oven and look at the tomatoes. Any that have turned brown are done, so remove them and set them on a saucer.

8.) These will dry a little more as they cool, so look for strips that appear to be completely dried and remove them next. If they feel even the slightest bit wet, they aren’t done yet. Put them back in the oven and check on them every ten minutes. It’s best to get them dried just enough, but not browned.

9.) It’s good to taste anything being cooked, so do so. It has a warm, roasted, concentrated flavor that’s delicious.

Brown Dried Tomatoes Are Still Very Tasty

Brown dried tomatoes aren’t burned, they just turn brown at a certain point and the taste is still very good. But, they’re prettier when they’re bright red, so keep a close eye on them if this matters.

They should be the texture of a dried apricot; dry, but soft in the thick part. If the ends are dried but it’s still a little wet in the middle, it’s not done yet.

If they aren’t dried all the way, they’ll mold in storage and that’s not good. There’s nothing worse than pulling them out to toss them in some pasta and finding mold after they’re already part of the sauce. Removing the affected ones and saving the rest doesn’t apply here, as the other pieces take on that moldy taste. The whole container is ruined.

If the tomatoes aren’t to be used right away, one way to make sure they don’t mold is to store them in olive oil, making sure the oil completely covers the tomatoes. That’s how most of them come in the stores and there’s nothing wrong with it. Olive oil is used somehow in most of the foods that would benefit from the addition of dried tomatoes, so it’s a great marriage. They're great in meatloaves, corn, pasta, rice dishes and more.

A Handmade Artisan Item

Good extra virgin olive oil can be flavored or spiced, lending even more flavor to the tomatoes. For instance, add a few crushed peppercorns to the oil and tomatoes, or a chopped garlic clove, or any combination of spices. Let these stand for three weeks in a dark place, shaking them now and then. The flavors will infuse into the oil and it’ll taste great.

It makes a nice hostess or holiday gift, too. Simply put a bow on the jar with a label that says “Made with Love, Add to one pound of pasta or two pounds of meatloaf.”

Here's a couple of other sites to find recipes in:

The copyright of the article Easy Gourmet Sun Dried Tomatoes in Recipes is owned by Sandy McCollum. Permission to republish Easy Gourmet Sun Dried Tomatoes in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.