Sometimes you want the food a little dry

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

It happens to all of us -- finding bags of produce languishing

behind last night’s leftovers on the refrigerator shelf. But as long

as the victims of our neglect have not yet entered the brown and

soggy stage, all is not lost. Help is at hand to salvage these

still-edible fruits and vegetables and turn them into something even

better.

Discovering a basket of cherry tomatoes lurking behind the

eggplant in the refrigerator caught me by surprise. As no one in my

house felt like eating them right away, a quick solution was needed

to rescue these tasty morsels from the compost pile. A friend once

told me about drying them in the sun. But he was on vacation and my

only memory of his method was a long and complicated process. Anyway,

we were socked in by a solid June gloom.

Turning to the experts, I found information about oven-drying

tomatoes in “The Dean and DeLuca Cookbook,” by David Rosengarten,

Joel Dean and Giorgio DeLuca. The recipe was for large tomatoes and

required 20 hours in the oven at 150 degrees. Is leaving the oven on

that long really a good idea? OK, time to get creative -- the

tomatoes wouldn’t last much longer anyway. After a bit of

experimenting, I now have containers of almost-bright-red crinkled

morsels of sweetness that explode with flavor.

The process shouldn’t take more than a few hours. You can begin as

soon as supper is over and be out of the kitchen before the 11

o’clock news. Slice washed and well-dried cherry tomatoes in half and

place cut-side-up over parchment paper (or a light coating of cooking

oil) on a cookie sheet. Place in oven pre-heated to 200 degrees for

about one hour.

Oven temperatures vary and convection ovens cook a little faster.

Continue to check every 15 minutes after the first hour. Cooking

times are also affected by the amount of moisture in the tomatoes (or

anything else you dry this way).

Tomatoes should shrivel around the edges, retain their bright

color and still be soft. They’ll be slightly chewy and offer an

intense, very sweet tomato flavor. They are not supposed to resemble

the hard, deep colored sun-dried variety sold at the market in

plastic bags. After they’ve had a chance to cool, place them in jars

and store in the refrigerator for a few days. If you’re not using

them right away, place in a small plastic container (not plastic

storage bag) and toss them into the freezer.

The oven-drying process can be also be used with apples, pears,

apricots and other fruit. Anything that you dry this way will be

softer and fleshier than the commercially-dried variety. The fruit

would probably be delicious mixed with yogurt, sprinkled on cereal,

or added to homemade muffins. Whatever you dry in the oven will not

be completely dehydrated (like sun-dried or freeze-dried produce) and

needs to be refrigerated for a few days or stored in the freezer in

something airtight.

I’ve already used the tomatoes in a variety of ways, and suspect

there are many more delicious possibilities. Add them to your

favorite pasta salad or create a unique bruschetta appetizer. Chop

the tomatoes into very small pieces and blend with goat cheese. Add

some chopped fresh herbs to the mixture or sprinkle them on top.

Spread the cheese mixture onto toasted slabs of Italian bread and

drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil. Dress up homemade pizza

or use them as a very light dressing for pasta. Chop tomatoes and mix

with any combination of fresh herbs, minced garlic, parsley, capers,

anchovies, black olives, or fresh plum (Roma) tomatoes. Add about two

tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (for a pound of pasta) and toss

with pasta. Finish with a healthy sprinkle of coarsely grated

Parmesan or Romano cheese. These tasty morsels also do wonders for

homemade tomato sauce. Their natural sweetness makes the addition of

sugar unnecessary. And what a good reason to kick the habit of

opening jars and try making your own tomato sauce.

Most basic cookbooks include recipes. If your library is limited,

and the internet is handy, log onto foodtv.com and do a simple

search. Lots of other sights have something to offer, but this one is

extremely easy to use. (If the recipe calls for a 28-ounce can of

tomatoes, you can probably use about 1/4-cup dried tomatoes.) Once

you get used to this method of drying fruits and vegetables, you’ll

discover ways to enhance the flavor of dishes you make every day. Bon

appetit!