I was picking tomatoes with my eldest the other day. We picked a huge basket full and I was wondering what we were going to do with them.
She suggested that we dry them and then wouldn't take no as an answer.
So we got the dehydrator out and got chopping. The little yellow millefleur cherry tomatoes are cropping in abundance so we chopped each one in half to help them to dry out.
Five full trays of tomatoes resulted in just two jars of dried ones!
We're looking forward to using these. Either to cook with (rehydrated in water) or maybe to rehydrate in oil to go on bread or even to blitz into powder and then make into a tomato paste/puree.
Do you dry tomatoes to preserve them? How do you use yours?
I used to work with a lot of children of immigrants from Italy. hot water to rehydrate the tomatoes, only use red for sauce appearance at the end. Leave over night. cold pan! must be cold. A good coating of olive oil in the bottom of the pan. Add a bit more for luck. Add chopped garlic to the cold pan and oil. Leave the chopped garlic out on the side for a good 10 mins, it increases all the good stuff as it oxidises. low heat. You want the oil to warm around the garlic and get a good perfume. Have the tomatoes rehydrated with the water ready blitzed in the food processor, to make passatta, dont sieve it, you are losing good taste. Do this whilst you keep an eye on the garlic. when you can smell it, add 1 chopped fresh chilli, what ever one you like. And also a good splash of dried red chilli. Layers of flavour. Keep the heat low. It should start to smell a little sweet. Now you can turn the heat up. when there is a touch of gold on the edge of the garlic move fast add all of the passatta. stir like made to mix the oil with the tomato. This you can use to add to pasta, if you are feeling generous add 1 slice of cooked bacon crumbled up for each person. Or you can cook it down and use it as pizza topping with a bit of heat kick. This also does well with orzo and lamb shoulder in the oven, with lots of rosemary and halved olives. You could also make the Soprano's Sunday Gravy. I havent eaten meat for years but I have made this for others and it goes down a storm. Use the sauce for the pasta starter and the meat for the main. after all that, someone else can make you desert! Enjoy! buon appetito!!!
ReplyDeleteforgot to say you simmer the sauce to thicken. before adding the bacon or to pasta. if you make the Soprano;s Sunday gravy and you cant get Italian sausage you can add fennel tops leave them long so you can fish them out. or a table spoon of sambuca or ouzo. Some people add vodka, I have no idea why there is no taste after of it. Best drink it yourself when you stir the sauce. lmao
DeleteOh Sol this sounds amazing! Going to try this in winter when we need a taste of summer! My mouth is watering reading this! Is there anything better than tomato, garlic and bacon? I think we'll try and dry a few more yet and try to can more. The dehydrator is currently full of nine trays of plums.
DeleteIn a Darth Vader voice. Penne arrabiatta! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5iEK-IEzw
DeleteLove your little helper Kev. You have taught her so well, she is going to be a great gardener.
ReplyDeleteI cant wait for our summer harvest so I can do this. I have decided to dehydrate a lot more food this year.
Happy gardening,
xTania
I am only getting enough tomatoes each day to use straight away. A glut will get dried this year as I have seen so many you tube videos on drying tomatoes. How long did yours take to dry?
ReplyDeleteBravo! We dried our cherry tomatoes cut in half - and use them a bit like sultanas only in savory cooking - like throwing them into the polenta, chopped into mashed potatoes, couscous salads etc.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes buy dried tomatoes to munch on. We have a store in the states "Sprouts" that sells them - quite expensive, so don't do it often! Delicious as a snack with cheese.
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