Oven Dried Tomatoes
In an effort to reduce the tomato quantities covering every surface in the kitchen, I took all the smaller fruits and the cherry tomatoes and oven dried them all day yesterday. I managed to get two full sheets done by 9pm before heading to bed. Today, I’ll stuff them in a jar and cover them in olive oil before storing it in the fridge. It’s hard to believe that all that fruit can be reduced to just a jar. It does take about 12 hours, more or less, so make sure you have a day at home set aside. I’ve done it overnight before. You put them in before you go to bed and then grab them in the morning~ish. But because all my tomatoes were of different sizes and levels of liquid, I needed to supervise it and pull the smaller ones out as they finished.
I tried a different technique with oil, too. I usually rub all the cut tomatoes in olive oil. But in an effort to save time, I threw caution to the wind and sprayed them with a cooking oil spray from Costco….the Kirkland brand spray….because it’s oil and not chemicals. It was less heavy and it worked beautifully. (phew!) From here you can toss them into salads or puree them as a nice alternative to pizza sauce!
Oven Dried Tomatoes
Ingredients
- Cherry tomatoes
- Canola spray
- Kosher salt
- 1 bottle extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175 or 200. It doesn't really matter. I used 175 convect. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Slice all the tomatoes and arrange on the cookie sheet. Spray somewhat liberally with cooking spray. Sprinkle a scant amount of kosher salt over the tomatoes. Dry in the oven for up to 12 or more hours, releasing steam from the oven by opening the oven door every couple of hours or so until the steaming has stopped. Remove finished tomatoes to a plate until all the tomatoes are done. Once cooled, store in a jar and pour extra virgin olive oil over the dried tomatoes and store them in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.