|
| |
 Welcome to the
Maple Leaf News Recipe Exchange!
Featured Recipe
More Recipes
here Enter a recipe here
-
 Sun Dried Tomatoes
- by
Carol Edwards
This to this
- An Italian favorite everyone loves, but hard to do in rainy wet Maple
Leaf. You can't dry much of anything around here! Read on to find
out what you can do with your bumper crop of tomatoes!
- The best tomatoes to use for drying are the smaller varieties that are on
the meaty side. A large tomato has too much water and not enough pulp to
make a very good product. I like the Roma for drying.
- The only really practical way to dry tomatoes in our area (Maple Leaf!) is
to use a food dehydrator, available in discount stores priced anywhere from
$39 to $99 depending on the retailer and the features. You can try to
use the oven, but there is not enough air circulation, and they are too hot.
- You'd be amazed at how 50 tomatoes turns into a couple of Tupperware
containers of dried product, so don't bother unless you can fill around 5
trays on the dehydrator.
- First, use only tomatoes at the peak of ripeness...wash them to remove
dust and dirt.
- Here you have an option - leave the skins on, or remove skins. It's
a lot of trouble to remove the skins, but you get a much nicer
result...quicker rehydration, not as chewy, and easier to use in cooking.
- Remove skins by immersing tomatoes in boiling water for around a minute or
less, then dip out and place in ice-water. After you pull them out of
the ice water the skins will just slip right off.
- If you like, you can dry them at this point: depending on size, slice in
1/2 or in 1/4s and arrange on the drying racks and follow the dehydrator's
instructions on timing. I set the heat at medium level and check them
after around 6 hours. Once they are ready - dry, but not ultra-crispy
dry, you can store them. (see below)
- Another option before drying is do briefly dip the tomatoes in an herb
marinade before drying. Mix enough red-wine vinegar to dip tomatoes into
with a little olive oil, herbs of your choice (like oregano, thyme, etc) and
soak the tomatoes in the mixture for 30 seconds or so, drain, and then place
on the drying racks. This gives them a great Italian flair you will
love!
- Storage: It is NOT a good idea to store the dried tomatoes in a jar
of oil. The oil is an anaerobic fluid and that storage could lead to the
growth of botulism, a fatally poisonous contamination of foods stored in
airless conditions. The best bet is to get freezer proof containers and
store them in the freezer. Another option is a tightly sealed container
either in the fridge or at room temperature. This option requires more
thorough drying to prevent spoilage.
- Uses: great to ad to sauces, casseroles, etc. Also, it is OK to soak
them in oil for a few days prior to use in pasta dishes calling for that type
of sun-dried tomato. Here's one that's really tasty; put them in a
coffee grinder and process them into powder for use as a seasoning or for
mixing with a seasoning. Also good to add to sauces this way. I
like to cut them up into small pieces and sprinkle on salads for a flavor
burst.
More Recipes Click on the recipe
for details
Submit your Favorite Recipe or post a question for
our readers:
(All personal information is kept strictly confidential and will not be sold
or shared with any outside party.)
|
