Our tomato plants have been bursting with tomatoes. We didn’t measure them, but in early July we had half a brown paper sack of them. What to do with all the fruits of summer is always the challenge. We made some marinara sauce with a good number of them, but we also tried something new for us: oven-dried tomatoes. It’s a way to get something like a sun-dried tomato without all those weeks in the back of a Tuscan ox cart. Based on advice from both
Martha Stewart and
Pim Techamuanvivit, Matt cobbled together a recipe that seemed like it would work for our tomatoes in our oven.
Basically, you halve, quarter or thickly slice the tomatoes, lightly salt them then put them in a 200 °F oven overnight. The key is to get them hot, but not boil them (212 °F). That dries the tomatoes out. Preserving them further afterward in oil, cans or the freezer is up to you. Matt started a batch at 11 PM one night. He halved the smaller and quartered the larger ones. You can see them before going into the oven in the top picture. Baking anything for 8 hours seems crazy, but…
The next morning the tomatoes were… somewhat dried out. The above picture shows the tomatoes after about 9 hours in the oven. There was nothing to do, but to keep them in the heat – all day. Eventually, the tomatoes did start to dry out. After a shocking
twenty-four hours in the oven there were still some squishy, moist parts, but some of them were starting to char. Splitting the difference and not wanting to leave them for a second night, Matt proclaimed them good enough. Below is the result. They taste fabulous, but we’re not sure they are worth 24 hours of cooking. A few days later, Matt tried a second batch but this time he sliced the tomatoes into half-inch slices to start with. The thinner sections really helped. The results were about the some, but it only took 8 hours to get there. Give it a try!
Clockwise from the top: Brussels sprouts, two giant squashes, two hot peppers, some Asian pears and four sweet peppers. Our CSA season is half over!
Clockwise from the top: four more ears of corn, some banana peppers, two egg plants (made into baba ganoush), more peaches, plums, some woody green beans, and yet another watermelon (made into some rather passable ice cream).
Clockwise from the top: four ears of corn, some of the best peaches ever, more bell peppers, more tomatoes and another box of cherry tomatoes.
Clockwise from the top: yet more potatoes, beets, four ears of corn, bell peppers, Brussels sprouts and a giant bulb of garlic. We made the peppers, potatoes and Brussels sprouts along with pineapple and onions into kebobs for the grill. Tasty!
Clockwise from the top: cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, a few habaneros, a couple very-ripe peaches, potatoes, and another watermelon. The stand-out item from this week’s food was a habanero peach salsa. We made tamales (with real corn husks and everything) and topped them with this sweet, spicy salsa. Yum yum.
The sixteenth of July marked the fifth anniversary of our wedding. In celebration, we decided to order Mission: Impossible …all of it. We scoured the web and found a mega-bonus pack with all seven seasons. That’s right, we are talking about the indispensible television series straddling the 60s and 70s. Steven Hill, Barbara Bain, Martin Landau, Greg Morris, Peter Lupus (and of course) Peter Graves really bring it. So many improbable high jinks!
Our tomato plants have been bursting with tomatoes. We didn’t measure them, but in early July we had half a brown paper sack of them. What to do with all the fruits of summer is always the challenge. We made some marinara sauce with a good number of them, but we also tried something new for us: oven-dried tomatoes. It’s a way to get something like a sun-dried tomato without all those weeks in the back of a Tuscan ox cart. Based on advice from both Martha Stewart and Pim Techamuanvivit, Matt cobbled together a recipe that seemed like it would work for our tomatoes in our oven. 
Basically, you halve, quarter or thickly slice the tomatoes, lightly salt them then put them in a 200 °F oven overnight. The key is to get them hot, but not boil them (212 °F). That dries the tomatoes out. Preserving them further afterward in oil, cans or the freezer is up to you. Matt started a batch at 11 PM one night. He halved the smaller and quartered the larger ones. You can see them before going into the oven in the top picture. Baking anything for 8 hours seems crazy, but…
The next morning the tomatoes were… somewhat dried out. The above picture shows the tomatoes after about 9 hours in the oven. There was nothing to do, but to keep them in the heat – all day. Eventually, the tomatoes did start to dry out. After a shocking twenty-four hours in the oven there were still some squishy, moist parts, but some of them were starting to char. Splitting the difference and not wanting to leave them for a second night, Matt proclaimed them good enough. Below is the result. They taste fabulous, but we’re not sure they are worth 24 hours of cooking. A few days later, Matt tried a second batch but this time he sliced the tomatoes into half-inch slices to start with. The thinner sections really helped. The results were about the some, but it only took 8 hours to get there. Give it a try!