This year we decided to plant some roma tomatoes in our teeny tiny garden,
and boy oh boy did they take off despite the drought.
We have a plethora of roma tomatoes.
And that was the point, right? To plant, pore over, prune and pray for a plethora of sweet red romas was indeed our plan.
However.
One can only eat so many bowls of sliced red juicy romas drizzled with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt & pepper. Right?
So you know what we did with the little pretties?
We made oven-dried roma tomatoes! And oh my are they the perfect savory treat enjoyed alone or as a tangy, chewy punch in a salad, a pasta dish or with scrambled with eggs! I couldn’t believe how easy they were to make! This is all we did!
We picked a peck of perfect romas, (ok I’m not entirely sure that it was a peck of tomatoes, but it sounded good in the sentence),
placed them in a colander and rinsed them with water.
Sliced them in half, scooped out the seeds (which we used in a delicious sauce), tossed them lightly with salt,
then put them on a metal cooling rack that was set on a rimmed baking sheet.
Next, we placed them the oven on the lowest setting,
and just let them do their thing for about 10-12 hours depending on your oven.
And this is what came out of the oven…
Tangy, chewy, heavenly oven-dried tomatoes.
Do yourself a favor today.
Pick a plethora of roma tomatoes, whether from your garden or the supermarket, and oven-dry them.
But make sure to make plenty…
Because you won’t be able to resist plucking one right out of the bowl to plop it right into your mouth!
Again. And again. And again…
~Wenderly
- 40 Roma Tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2 metal cooling racks
- 2 rimmed baking sheets
- Pre-heat oven on lowest setting (on my oven it is 170°).
- Wash & dry tomatoes.
- Slice each tomato lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds (discard or keep for another recipe) then place the sliced tomatoes in a bowl then toss with salt.
- Put tomatoes on racks set on the rimmed baking sheets.
- Place the baking sheets into the oven for 12 hours, periodically checking to make sure that they are evenly drying out.
- Check the tomatoes after 10 hours or so to make sure that they aren’t becoming brittle. The time can vary due to size of tomatoes and your oven. You may want to carefully remove any that look like they are done (think consistency of a raisin). Once all tomatoes are shriveled and dry, remove from oven and let cool. Soak or drizzle them with olive oil or eat them plain. Store in the fridge.
