In celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week (I’m a high school art teacher as well as a food blogger, in case you didn’t know!), I’m bringing you a delicious new recipe. And in acknowledgement that it is THE CRAZIEST TIME OF YEAR for teachers everywhere, I’m going to keep this post short :-)
Guys. You can make YOUR OWN SUN DRIED TOMATOES. In the oven! And it’s the easiest thing in the world.
Here’s what’s great about these.
- Their flavor is rich and robust. They are certainly not your average tomato. There’s almost a smoky flavor that comes out of dried tomatoes that are slow roasted for a long time. And when they are smothered in a marinade of extra virgin olive oil, garlic, and fresh herbs… boy oh boy. You’ve hit the jackpot.
- They take four hours to roast in the oven (at a very low temperature), BUT, all you do is slice, sprinkle with salt, and let the oven do the work for you. Imagine how much you can get done in those four hours? The answer is a lot (but I won’t judge you if you take a nap during that time instead).
- They last for longer than fresh tomatoes. Keep them in the fridge, and they’ll be good for a few weeks.
- You can put them in everything. Salads. On sandwiches. In scrambled eggs. On pizza. I put them on a big ol’ Greek salad with lettuce, feta, olives, cucumbers, and red onions for a party, and it was a big hit.
- Did I mention they are some of the most delicious morsels of food in the world?
Here’s one thing to keep in mind: these are not going to be like the sun dried tomatoes you get at the store. These are a bit juicier- almost a cross between traditionally roasted and sun dried. In order to fully dry them, you’d have to cook them at an even lower temperature for a much longer period of time (as in, overnight), or use a food dehydrator (WANT).
So. You have two things to do. 1) Make these tomatoes, and 2) go find a teacher and give them a big ol’ hug to let them know they are appreciated. Or buy them a bottle of wine, because they probably need it (and, coincidentally, wine would go extremely well with these tomatoes!) :-)
And if you love this deep oven roasted flavor of the tomatoes, you’d love this roasted red pepper and tomato soup!
Recipe below!
Oven Dried Tomatoes with Garlic and Herb Oil
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb. tomatoes sliced, halved, or quartered (depending on size)
- kosher salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs such as basil, oregano, thyme, and/or rosemary
- crushed red pepper to taste (optional)
Instructions
- Place tomatoes cut side up on a parchment covered baking sheet and sprinkle with plenty of salt.
- Bake at 250 degrees F for four hours.
- Meanwhile, mix together oil, garlic, herbs, and crushed red pepper
- When tomatoes are cooled, add them to the oil mixture and stir.
- Store in refrigerated for up to two weeks, or in the freezer for up to six months.
Notes
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
Joy
Can this be frozen in glass jars and then thawed? I would like to use my garden produce for holiday gifts.
Thanks
Elizabeth Lindemann
Good question! I’ve never done this, but I don’t see why not. But if giving as gifts, do make sure they stay cold, with instructions to make sure to put directly in fridge for people you give them to. Hope that helps!
Yvonne Utley
easy recipe. I liked that it was a small quantity.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Anthony
I haven’t tried making this yet. I was wondering though if you could make it by using a D hydrator instead of your oven?
Elizabeth Lindemann
Good question! I’m sure you can use a dehydrator for this but I’ve personally never used one so I can’t help figure this one out. This might be a good place to start: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/preserving-chili-peppers/how-to-make-sun-dried-tomatoes/
Janette
Love it made it years ago and glad to have it refreshed in my mind we just got some in at Trader Joe’s so it triggered a big memory for me when I made them from my own homegrown tomatoes and basil and tossed them with some pasta
Elizabeth
Don’t you just love homegrown tomatoes? Glad it brought back some good food memories for you- those are the best :-)
Melissa @ Bits of Umami
These tomatoes are making me SO hungry. Love the versatility of them and how easy they are to make. In 4 hours I can watch almost 5 episodes of Walking Dead. Come back and have a whole tray of these to eat during my next 5 episodes? Oh I mean… put into the fridge and save them for the week. Haha. Loving this!
Elizabeth
Hahahaha love it! My show is parks and rec right now. For about the fourteenth time through :)
Elizabeth C
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to you and your husband! You deserve LOADS of appreciation!!!! :-)
These pictures look amazing. I can’t wait to try this!
Elizabeth
Thanks Elizabeth :) miss you!!