Catching the sun in a jar

Although we're still enjoying the spring, it won't take long before the summer starts. Summer; that means an abundance of red fruits as strawberries and raspberries but also tomatoes with which taste like tomatoes. In Holland, they're available throughout the whole year but a lot of them taste like water.

During the summer, when you're lucky, you can buy small tomatoes like Tasty Tom with a delicious taste. I managed this weekend to buy a box with small tasty tomatoes and dried them in the oven. Still warm and just coming out of the oven I just couldn't resist to try a few; the taste was concentrated (just enough) and delicious. A few of them can give a nice extra flavour to your salad, sauce, focaccia or pizza.


Oven dried tomatoes (R. Bertinet: Dough)
a box of small ripe tomatoes (250 gr.)
a tsp. fleur de sel (or fine sea salt)
freshly ground black pepper
tsp. castersugar
a couple of pinches dried herbes de Provence
good quality olive oil

Preheat the oven to 210 dgr. F. (100 dgr. C.). Halve the tomatoes and lay them on a baking tray on their skin-side. Sprinkle the salt, pepper, sugar and herbes over the tomatoes. Put the tray in the oven for 2 hours until the tomatoes are dry and soft. Put them in a sterile jar and cover them with the olive oil. this way you can keep them for a few weeks.


Of course you can also use them at once in soup, salad or bread.