The first time I saw a jar of oil covered sun dried tomatoes, I knew something was very, very wrong. Those weren’t tomatoes! Those things looked like a tomato and a raisin had produced some sort of unnatural baby.
And then I tried one. I quickly converted to the side of tomato raisin babies.
Unfortunately, sun dried tomatoes can be pricey and Tucker’s cheap so when I crave sun dried tomatoes, this is what I do. And please excuse the tiny pictures; apparently I had my phone set on the tiniest image size possible to man. Oops.
Step By Step Easy Sun Dried/Oven Dried Tomatoes
- Cut parchment paper to fit your baking sheet. Use a box cutter cause you’re street like that.
- Cut whatever tomatoes you have in half. If you’re using big ole honkin’ tomatoes, slice them up.
- You’ll need kosher salt, about 2 tsp of thyme, and some garlic. You can use fresh thyme if you have it, lucky dog.
- Sprinkle tomatoes with lots of salt and the thyme. Break the garlic apart but don’t peel it. Dump it around the tomatoes.
- Turn your oven to 175° and pop in your baking sheet.
- Keep your oven door open a smidge with something like a spoon. Fight off the two year old who is determined to remove said spoon.
- Set your timer for three hours. They might be done after that time. They might not. Check on them. They should be pliable unless you like them crispy. Team Crispy or Team Pliable? Important decisions these.
- Peel your garlic and let the tomatoes cool. Take a bite of the garlic and one of the tomatoes. The garlic will be sweet, just like the tomatoes, and REALLY strong. Like Arnold Schwarzenegger strong when he was doing the roids.
- Turn your parchment paper into a funnel thing and pour everything into an airtight, decorative jar or cheap plastic bowl and cover with good olive oil.
- Secure your lid–or Press N Seal…whatever–and write something witty on the top. Smiley faces also work. Store your creation in the fridge since I’ve heard botulism isn’t fun.
