Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Oven Dried Tomatoes: How to reduce 3 pounds of fresh tomatoes into about 3 ounces magic!

Oven roasting tomatoes is a great way to use up your garden surplus or to improve mediocre store bought toms.

These tomatoes intensify sauces, make excellent pizza and salad toppings and enhance just about anything else you add them to. That is, of course, if they make it to your dishes without being eaten first—they’re just sooo good!

I must caution you. Making oven roasted tomatoes is an exercise in patience and willpower. They take hours to complete and will fill your house with intoxicating aroma of caramelized tomatoes, garlic and herbs.

When they are finally done, you will likely be tempted to gobble them all up in one exquisitely delicious mouthful! But you must wait! Because after transforming an entire bowls worth of tomatoes into a just a few ounces of juicy, chewy, tomatoey, sweet yet savory goodness, you will most certainly wish to…. Oh man, never mind! Just gobble them up! Sooo good!

Recipe:

Around 10 tomatoes
4 large cloves of garlic – minced
3 tablespoons of free thyme, marjoram or oregano – minced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Method

Preheat your oven to 275 degrees and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Slice your tomatoes in half, and, using a spoon, scoop out the flesh (preserve it and make a nice stewed tomato sauce).

Place the halved tomatoes on the baking sheet, open side up and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt, pepper and fresh oregano, thyme or marjoram.

Put the tomatoes in the oven and let them go for about 4 hours or until they have dried up, cooked down and become irresistible. Then, gobble them up… I mean, seal them in a zip lock bag for later use.