Tiny Tim cherry tomatoes
San Marzano plum tomatoes
I've been wanting to try 'sun drying' my own tomatoes, but in the oven. Takes 12 hours at a very low temperature, 160°C, and I checked often to be sure they didn't get overdone.
Cherry tomatoes halved, put on a baking sheet with parchment paper, sprinkled with salt, pepper & basil.
Plum tomatoes quartered with salt & pepper on a baking sheet with a rack & parchment paper.
Cherries done! Not hard, more like a raisin, pliable.
Plums done!
I put the cherries in a jar with extra virgin olive oil and a clove of garlic cut in half and stored in the fridge. We love a pasta with these tomatoes, garlic & olive oil...yum!
The plum tomatoes I stored in a freezer bag after freezing them individually on a sheet pan so they can be removed a couple at a time as needed.
And to deal with the sink full of tomatoes...a variety of more plums, beefsteak, Brandy Wine & Better Boy. My husband loves stewed tomatoes, so I decided to make a batch of them.
Boiling tomatoes
Drop in ice
Remove skin
The ingredients. The green & hot peppers are from our garden, the onion & garlic from a local farmer and the carrot...well, store bought. (I didn't have any celery! Oh well, will still be good) Used olive oil, basil, parsley, sugar, salt & pepper. For certain recipes I prefer dried herbs, so I didn't use the fresh herbs from the garden.
Sauteeing the vegetables
Stewing the tomatoes. When they had cooled, I put them in containers and popped them into the freezer. Now he can enjoy his stewed tomatoes whenever he wants!
And, the chickens benefit too! They get most of the scraps from the vegetables...and boy do they love them. (no onion or garlic for them)
There are plenty more tomatoes ripening on the vines and I have a slew of hot peppers. I will be spending another day putting them up, so this time I plan on canning salsa. Tortillas anyone?
Linking up with:
It's Party Time at It's So Very Cheri
YUM this looks good...My grandmother used to stew all her garden tomatoes. You sure do have a bumper crop. I have tiny little drought tomatoes but the last two times I made sauce I was lucky enough to have some bigger ones from a friend ..so their "Big Boy" tomatoes were normal sized and my "Early Girl" were mostly like a big cherry tomatoe :)
ReplyDeleteNothing like home made sauces from home grown tomatoes!
DeleteDebbie :)
Thank you for this great post, Debbie. I have a bunch of cherry tomatoes and didn't know I can dry them in the oven. I can't wait to taste them. How long do you think they will keep in the fridge in the olive oil?
ReplyDeleteI would think about a month. Of course, if you freeze them they'll last much longer. I would think you could freeze with a bit of oil & garlic too.
DeleteYou're welcome
Debbie :)
Hi Debbie, came back to let you know I shared your oven dried tomatoes on Friday Finds. Thanks!
DeleteYou have been one busy person Debbie and you will be enjoying the benefits of your hard work during the winter. I"ve got lots of tomatoes too and have been taking little brown bags full of them (and onions) to family and friends.
ReplyDeleteYes, I send the kids home with tomatoes whenever they are visiting. Most of our friends already grow their own so don't need ours.
DeleteDebbie :)
Tomatoes are one of the great pleasures of August!
ReplyDeleteOh, absolutely!!
DeleteDebbie :)
Your dried tomatoes look wonderful. Is the veggies the difference between stewed tomatoes and regular canned or frozen tomatoes or what are stewed tomatoes? Nancy
ReplyDeleteThank you, Nancy. Yes, adding veggies & herbs is the only difference between stewed and canned.
DeleteDebbie :)
Oh, what an amazing load of tomatoes! They just sort of came off the page and wanted to pop into my mouth! LOL.
ReplyDeleteLOL Yes, the pictures turned out pretty good, if I do say so.
DeleteDebbie :)
This is so awesome!! In our last home my husband had a wonderful garden and this brings back memories of the fun of making our home grown goodies into things we can enjoy all year. Those sun dried tomatoes all look awesome!
ReplyDeleteThanks Karah, nothing like doing something delicious from the harvest of your garden to last you into the winter!
DeleteDebbie :)
Have you ever had a Jersey tomato? I tried growing some last year but the chipmunks attacked them! You'll be feasting all winter long!
ReplyDeleteKelly
Hi Kelly, no I haven't tried growing the Jersey tomatoes. Might put that on my list of one to try next year!
DeleteDebbie :)
Wow-you have been seriously busy! Those all look SO yummy!!
ReplyDeleteSusan
Yes, it is a lot of work, but oh so worth it!
DeleteDebbie :)
Kelly, Your tomatoes look fantastic. I have a huge crop ripening too. Maybe I will give the sun dried recipe a try! Thanks for visiting my blog. Unfortunately I made an editing error and had to re-do my entire post! Grrrrrr. Finally got it back up, but your comments got deleted with the whole original post. :(
ReplyDeleteHave a great week!
Kathy
Thanks Kathy. Wow, what a pain that must have been rewriting your whole post!
DeleteDebbie :)
Oh yummmmmm!!! This is bringing back wonderful memories of preserving, freezing and storing up food from our garden for winter. Thank you :)
ReplyDeleteHugs, Tanya
http://twelveoeight.blogspot.com/
You're welcome and thanks for visiting
DeleteDebbie ::)
Your tomatoes look great. I made spaghetti sauce with mine today. I roast them first. After reading your post, I want to try drying them now. Thanks for the info!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome Jennifer :)
DeleteFunny, I'm just about to go out and pick tomatoes to make "sundried" ones too. But I'm using my trusty dehydrator instead of the oven - it won't heat up the kitchen and uses less energy. One question regarding the oil packed ones: did you heat the olive oil or just use it at room temperature?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, you can get a dehydrator at most thrift stores or yard sales for less than $10. A great investment if you are planning on doing this again. I also dry herbs that way - faster that way.
Hi Heather
DeleteI used the oil at room temperature, after the tomatoes had cooled. I've never had a dehydrator, never needed one before, but it might be worth keeping an eye out for one. Thanks for the tip. Mind you, with the oven set so low, it didn't really heat up the kitchen...but being on for almost 12 hours does use electricity!
Oh your tomatoes look so good and fresh! And the sun-dried jars would make great gifts! Thanks for sharing and visiting my blog too :)
ReplyDeleteSO neat. I've never seen anyone make their own sun (oven?) dried tomatoes before. Definitely mentioning this to the gardener/cook (hubby)...he will be canning this weekend. :)
ReplyDeleteI have so many little cherry tomatoes that I have started to give them away to friends and neighbours. After reading your post, I am thinking that maybe I should try oven drying them! Have a great long weekend!
ReplyDeleteI just popped over from The North End Loft. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. Sun dried tomatoes are pretty pricey in the stores and I did get a bumper crop this year. Like Jennifer, I'm having second thoughts about giving them away!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Linda
Looks delicious! You will enjoy having the extra food stored now that you are back to work full hours. Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDelete