Sun-dried tomatoes are very popular all over the world. Moreover, each country has its own unique secret to using this dish. Not every housewife knows the recipe for sun-dried tomatoes, but the idea itself is very attractive. In winter, a dried vegetable will allow you to diversify your diet, quickly prepare a salad or an original stew. It is suitable for sandwiches, you just need to pre-soak in water.
Origin
It is difficult to find a country where tomatoes would be loved as much as in Italy. They are used for making sauces and pizza. The hot climate allowed for a long time to make such a simple harvest as sun-dried tomatoes. The recipes that we will now consider are adapted to the modern urban dweller, which will greatly simplify the task of the hostess.
Before using tomatoes, you must first soak them in hot water. This is necessary in order to make them tender. If for the first time tomatoes were harvested in this way in Italy, then in Greece and Turkey, today the whole world has taken up the baton. Even in Siberia, housewives try to cook this product on their own.
Features and Benefits
Dried tomatoes are always at hand, they do not take up much space and can be perfectly stored without a refrigerator. This is an indisputable advantage, especially considering that juicy tomatoes do not tolerate lying well. And in Italian cuisine you can’t do without them. So that in winter you have the opportunity to enjoy the rich taste and aroma, today we are considering a recipe for sun-dried tomatoes.
A clean jar is taken for storage, where the dried vegetables are carefully folded. After that, add a little olive oil to them and close with a tight lid. Now at any time of the year it will be possible to use healthy and tasty tomatoes.
Taste qualities
For some surprise, those who are trying to implement this recipe for the first time should be prepared. Sun-dried tomatoes are something unimaginable at first glance. Nondescript slices keep in themselves the taste of summer. Not even that, that’s not quite the right definition. During the drying process, vegetables acquire new, unexpected shades of taste.
In Italy, they are dried up under the scorching sun, but at home an ordinary oven will quite cope with this. Ready-made slices are perfectly stored for at least a year. They can be added to salads, sauces, to make sandwiches. You can just eat as a tasty snack, pouring olive oil.
A bit of history
Let's start with the Italian recipe for sun-dried tomatoes. They first appeared in Europe, and then in Russia in the 19th century. Over time, the first plants were opened that supplied tomatoes for sale in oil and with spices. At first, Italians dried the juicy fruits by hand. To do this, the tomatoes were thoroughly washed and cut, the flesh was cleaned. After that, they were laid out on the roof until completely dry. This was done in hot and clear weather. No seasonings or spices were used. But only then, to save the tomatoes for the winter. A little later, spices began to be added, and the snack became even more popular.
To date, dried tomatoes in Italy are practically not used as an independent dish. But in America, and then in Russia, they won fantastic popularity. Today it is a rather expensive delicacy for real gourmets.
Beneficial features
Piquant taste is only one side of the coin. Tomatoes are not just a tasty snack, but also healthy vegetables. They relate to medium-calorie foods. That is, even after dehydration will not harm the figure. Tomatoes can be consumed in moderation and subject to a diet. They are an excellent choice for people suffering from a lack of vitamins and minerals in the body. They contain a large amount of coarse fiber, which improves intestinal motility.
It is an excellent antidepressant that improves the functioning of the nervous system. Due to serotonin, they can compete with chocolate. This product is the prevention of vision problems.
Tomato preparation
You will need ripe tomatoes, fleshy and dense. Salting, greenhouse varieties are best suited. Grown in the garden, juicy and tender, salad tomatoes are very difficult to dry. Choose fruits with a flat and clean, without damage, surface, not rotten or overripe.
Green vegetables are not suitable. They just will not give any taste. Often drying is perceived as the disposal of low-quality goods. But to get really high-quality dried tomatoes, you need to take the right raw materials.
Yellow, pink fruits most often go to salads. For drying, bright red fruits are used. The expense is large, since a small handful will come out of one kilogram. Prepare tomatoes for drying as follows: they need to be washed, cleaned of seeds, partitions and stalks. After that, it remains to cut and clean from the insides.
Marinade at home
The recipe for dried tomatoes in the modern sense involves the use of spices. Thanks to this, they turn out so bright that they decorate any dish. All classic herbs of Italian cuisine are suitable for this. Other than that, use whatever you like except the traditional black pepper and chili. It is not recommended to add Suneli hops, cardamom and celery, caraway seeds, ginger and barberry. It is best to grind them immediately before use. In this case, the aroma will be more intense and interesting.
What else needs to be mentioned when studying the recipe? Sun-dried tomatoes at home are not quite the same as cans from a supermarket. This is understandable, production processes and technology have been worked out there for a long time. To make the taste look like the original, it is best to use coarse salt. Her crystals will not pass through the skin and will not salt the vegetable. And if the skin breaks, then the salt will create a protective film. However, one must be careful with her. To over-salt the tomatoes means to completely deprive them of that spicy note that most fans like so much. Sourness and sweetness is the hallmark of sun-dried tomato.
Drying in the sun
This is the easiest recipe. Sun-dried tomatoes can be prepared at home in the garden or on the balcony. But it will take quite a lot of time. First of all, you will need to prepare a special frame, covered with mesh or gauze. This is important so that insects do not spoil your vegetables. Now cover the frame with paper and place the slices tightly on it. It will take 4 to 10 days until they are dry enough to be stored. Be sure to salt to avoid spoiling the product.
Watch the cooking process. From time to time you need to turn the slices over, check their condition. If the frames are in the open air, then the movement of air contributes to drying out, but in this case it is required to bring them into the room every evening so that morning moisture does not increase the drying time.
There is a recommendation from experienced housewives. The first day or two tomatoes can be dried in the open. Then put the frame in the oven and heat well. After that, you can continue cooking in the usual way. This will not only speed up the cooking process, but also give the tomatoes a special taste.
If the weather failed
This can also be encountered. Tomatoes were cut, and the weather turned bad. Without the sun, they will mold and deteriorate. Therefore, resourceful housewives decided to cook them by analogy with plums in the oven. The recipe for sun-dried tomatoes is not very original. It is necessary to chop the tomatoes and lay them on a baking sheet, sprinkle with spices.
Now send the pan to the oven. Do not be too zealous for temperature. It is enough to set 80 degrees or even slightly open the lid of the oven. Cooking time is about 8 hours. Next, focus on the appearance of your tomatoes. If the temperature is higher, the cooking process is faster. But in this case there is a danger of baking or drying the slices. That is, the longer the cooking process, the higher the quality. Delicious and healthy are sun-dried tomatoes in the oven. The recipe with the photo is encouraging. Slices turn out pretty beautiful, which is important for making pizza or sandwiches.
Tomatoes with Butter
At home, in Italy, such an appetizer is familiar and even somewhat banal. But we serve it as a delicacy. At the same time, you can cook sun-dried tomatoes in oil at home. The recipe is based on the same principles as the previous ones.
Tomatoes need to be prepared and cut in a similar way. The result is a great addition for sandwiches and pizza.
Cook a small portion for the first time. If you do not like it, it will not be so sorry for the products and the time spent. Take 500 g of small tomatoes, garlic and herbs. Favorite spices are also required. Traditionally, Italian herbs are taken here .
- Prepared vegetables must be dried. Do not just get wet with a towel, but repeat this procedure several times so that there is no excess juice left on the vegetables. While you are busy with this, turn on the oven at 80 degrees to warm up. Be sure to cover the baking sheet with parchment.
- Place tomatoes tightly and lightly oil with a brush. Feel free to add herbs and garlic, salt and spices. Some people prefer to leave this at a time when the tomatoes are ready. But then they practically will not affect the taste of the product. Approximately 6 hours will be required for the wedges to fade.
- Open the oven and let it cool completely.
- We put dried tomatoes in a jar. Top with oil until the vegetables are completely covered.
This is a great recipe for the winter. Sun-dried tomatoes are quite soft, not at all like dried in the sun. Therefore, they do not require preliminary soaking. You can just get out of the jar and eat.
A few words about storage
Please note that the time indicated in the recipes is indicative. Readiness should be determined by the appearance of tomato slices. If they wrinkled and acquired a dark red shade, then the moisture from them evaporated, you can remove it from the sheet. If cooking in the oven, wait until it cools completely.
Now the main task is to save vegetables for the winter. Sun-dried tomato recipes with photos clearly demonstrate that cooked in this way, they can be stored for quite some time. But practice says the opposite. The jar ends pretty quickly. Cooked tomatoes are traditionally stacked in a clean container and poured with olive oil. But it can be done easier. Fold the dried product in a clean container and close tightly. It is stored for a long time in a dry and cool room.
Instead of a conclusion
Sun-dried tomatoes are a universal semi-finished product, which can be a great addition to sandwiches, pizza, sauces and snacks. At the same time, cooking them at home is not too difficult. However, many in their reviews note that if you do not have your own tomatoes in large quantities, then it is better to abandon this venture. Having bought 10 kg of tomatoes, you will get at best 150 g. The cost of such a harvest is high, regardless of which recipe for dried tomatoes will be chosen.