Sun dried tomatoes

Sundried tomatoes have such an amazing taste even for the one's who are averse to the idea of eating raw tomatoes. However it needs to be teamed up with something that compliments it really well. 

You can store them crisp and thin in a freezer bag or soaking in olive oil. 


However, since I have my sun in the oven, I sometimes, also make a few crispy chips of tomato. These need to be consumed within a weeks time and trust they do not last that long. So essentially  you continue broiling or heating them post they have lost the moisture for another 5 min or so to get wafer thin crispy chips.

Ingredients (For a jar full of tomatoes)
1 kg tomatoes - ripe and red yet firm 
1 tspn Olive Oil
a pinch of smashed garlic (optional)
salt to taste
Method
1) Make 4 vertical slices of tomatoes. Try to keep even size.
2) Sprinkle some salt on it and let it stand for 25-30 min.
3) Lift them off the dish and lightly tap to remove the water
4) Place these on a lined baking sheet. Always line the baking sheet with parchment paper (even butter wraps or silicon mat would do).
5) Pour olive oil and coat them well. Add garlic and also massage it on tomato slices - This is completely optional
6) Put them in a preheated oven at the lowest possible temperature (mine is 40 c but I stayed at 100c) the lower the better.
7) It should be crispy in about couple of hours. For 100 c it became the  desired consistency in 1.5 hours.
8) Let it stay in the switched off oven for another half an hour.


This is ready to be served. Sprinkle with pepper, herbs, paprika as per your taste.
You can eat them in a week's time, reheat in microwave if they become soft for about 10-15 seconds on high power.


After that you can store them in olive oil and use in recipes that call for sun dried tomatoes. Munch on it , add to your breads. focaccia , pastas or top you pizzas.