Oven-Dried Grape Tomatoes

Oven-Dried Grape Tomatoes

It is very rare that I come home from a weekly client or event without a bunch of leftover goodies. Unfortunately, it often gets difficult to use everything up before going bad. I really hate wasting food and try my best to find a way to use everything. When grape tomatoes start to get a little soft and wrinkly they aren’t nearly as good as when they are still firm and fresh. They aren’t nearly as good, raw, that is. They are most certainly still great to cook with though. I like to make “sun-dried” tomatoes in my oven so I guess we must call them “oven-dried” so not to be misleading. However, I do believe many “sun-dried” tomato manufacturers actually use ovens as well. Either way, they are a great healthy snack, can be used in dishes, and make a great side dish on their own when you throw some extra flavors into the mix (see below). Check out the recipe and try it when your tomatoes start to show some age.

Shown below, instead of halving, I left the tomatoes whole before roasting, added ½ cup breadcrumb, lemon zest, parsley, and a little more olive oil, and took them out the oven when they were still a bit juicier. I had just caught some great rainbow trout while camping a couple days before so I paired it with a trout meunière and garlic linguine, but that recipe is for another post.

Oven-Dried Grape Tomatoes

1 lb. Grape Tomatoes, halved

2 T Olive Oil

2 t Garlic Powder

1 T Dried Oregano

S&P to taste

Pre-heat Oven to 350. Toss all ingredients together and season with salt and pepper to taste. Spread out on a parchment lined sheet pan and cook for about 30 minutes. Bring the oven down to 225 and continue to cook for about 4 more hours or until they are at desired dryness. Enjoy or store refrigerated in an airtight container. You can also cover them in olive oil and any other desired flavors (herbs, spices, vinegar, etc.) to marinate them and they will keep refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

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