On the Table: Oven Dried Tomatoes

I love the flavor of tomatoes, and eating them fresh is the highlight of the summer.  Tomatoes also really benefit from cooking, though, so I decided to simply oven dry the 3/4 of a pint of cherry tomatoes that I had left over in the refrigerator.  Slowly cooking the tomatoes consolidates the flavor, and they turn into a fantastic snack or garnish for a variety of dishes (salads, tomato soup, etc.).  Making the tomatoes takes a while, but there is very little hands-on time - they marinate overnight and then slowly cook in the oven.  This approach is a super easy way to ramp up the tomato flavor!  To prepare:

Slice tomatoes in half.  I used cherry tomatoes, but you can use any size (the big ones might take longer to cook).  Put the tomato halves into a container that you can leave them in to marinate.

Pour into the container three parts olive oil and one part balsamic vinegar (the traditional ratio for a vinagrette dressing, in fact!).  I used 3/4 of a cup of olive oil and 1/4 of a cup of balsamic vinegar, but the exact amounts will depend on the size of the container you are using.

Crush a few cloves of garlic (I used two).

Put them into the container, along with salt (I used a teaspoon) and a few grinds of freshly ground black pepper.

Cover the container and allow the tomatoes to marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

When you want to cook the tomatoes, preheat the oven to 225 degrees.  Spread the tomatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet.

Cook in the preheated oven until the tomatoes are dried out (it took two hours for me), rotating the baking sheet halfway through the cooking time.  Some of the tomatoes will get more dried out than others, which is good because it provides some textural contrast when you use the tomatoes.

(P.S. if you put the crushed garlic into the oven along with the tomatoes, it makes a fantastic treat!)

Enjoy!