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!
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