Gardening in My Rubber Boots

I drizzled olive oil over the tomatoes and made sure the surface of the pan was covered as well. Then sprinkled with a little course ground sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Since I left the skins on, I made sure the skin side was down when possible. Then placed the pan in the cold oven.

Next, I turned the oven to 450° and waited until the oven was preheated. This caused a real stink in my house – literally. It got pretty smokey, so if you’re like me and don’t clean your oven, you’ve been warned.

Once your oven is preheated, turn it down to 325° for about an hour and a half. Since I like mine a little softer, I turned it down to 200° for another hour and a half (three hours total). If you like them crispy, keep it at 325° for a full two-three hours. During the last hour, I checked the tomatoes often and pulled the smaller pieces off as they were crispy and dark.

You can tell when they’re done based on if they’re crispy, dark and taste wonderful. When mine were done, I put them on a cooling rack for about an hour and then put whatever I didn’t eat in the freezer.

I love how the dried tomatoes tasted sweet, zippy and then spicy. I wasn’t expecting that. Even though I put mine in the freezer, some folks put theirs in olive oil and store in the fridge (they do spoil faster this way).

Thanks Barb for the great recipe!

— Posted from the road