Semi-Dried Tomatoes

Well last week was in all likelihood the final hurrah for tomatoes, at least here in northern CA, so I scored a huge, 10-pound bag of heirlooms for a few dollars (end of the day sale at the farmers’ market). The weather and the mood were more about slow cooking than chowing them down in salads, so I decided to replenish the larder with a good supply of semi-dried tomatoes.

Semi-dried tomatoes are a huge boon to breakaway cooks. Slow-roasting them concentrates their flavors until they become perfect little umami bombs — local flavor blasts — ready to serve at a moment’s notice. They’re much better than sun-dried tomatoes, which generally have to be reconstituted/softened in some way, and who wants a one-step user process when a zero-step one is better? They also have better texture: they remain soft with some bite to them, whereas sun-dried can sometimes be tough if not properly rehydrated.

Here’s how to do it: place a silpat or parchment paper on a baking sheet, and turn on the oven to 275. Thinly slice (not insanely, but thin) enough tomatoes to fill up the sheet. Don’t overlap them –  use as many sheets as you need to, but keep them slightly separate. Spray with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper (lemon salt or tangerine salt is nice here, but not necessary). Bake for at least an hour, maybe 90 minutes or even two hours, or until they shrivel a bit. Taste one. Is it a superconcentrated tomato flavor? That’s what you’re after. But don’t let them in so long that they just shrivel to nothing; they should largely retain their shape.

I then just take them out, let them cool, and pack into glass jars. The heating/drying process seems to give the tomatoes some kind of robust, anti-bacterial properties, because they tend to stay just fine (i.e. no mold or funkiness) for a long time in the jars. I’ll use them a lot in the coming months; it’s great to just reach into the jar and pluck out the umami flavor blast — breakaway cooking at its finest!

What to do with them? Anything you’d do with a sun-dried tomato. Simple pasta, with sauted onions and herbs, gets pushed to an entirely new level with a handful of SDTs. Line some ramekins with them and crack a few eggs on top, and you’ll have some of the most flavorful baked eggs imaginable. Wonderful in vinaigrettes/salad dressings, finely chopped. Or even pureed with olive oil and herbs, as a mezze/dip for bread, including this one. Fantastic on quick homemade pizza (using the refrigerated dough from Trader Joe’s — it’s good!). On sandwiches. Or just part of an olive plate, with wine.

The jar will disappear quickly! Any favorite sun-dried tomato dishes among this august crowd? Try them with semi-dried, next time.