Homemade "Sun-Dried" Tomatoes

A few weeks ago I had a friend over for dinner, but I didn't prepare for it. I was left Sunday evening scrambling to come up with something to eat. Pasta is almost always at hand. And I came across a jar of sun-dried tomatoes hidden in the pantry. I roasted a head of garlic and blended it with the sun-dried tomatoes and added about a tablespoon of aged balsamic vinegar and some oil olive. Then I mixed it with some penne and parmeggiano. Well, although it wasn't horrible, I was kind of embarrassed because it's really not something I would normally serve, but laziness got the better of me. The moral of this story: jarred sun-dried tomatoes are gross.

Unfortunately, they end up in everything from pizza to salads. So anyway, the next weekend I was determined to make my own. Here's what I did:

Take as many tomatoes as you want. I used probably about 3-4 pounds of large plum tomatoes and cut them into quarters or halves. Season them with salt and layer them on a cookie sheet with oil on the bottom. Then simply slow bake them in the oven at 225 degrees for about 7 hours or more. Depending on the size, some of the tomatoes will shrivel and turn dark red and some of them will be redder and more plump. It's up to you! I had a mix of both.

Then I jarred them by putting a layer of the oven-dried tomatoes, then sprinkling with chopped fresh oregano and mint, layering slivered garlic. Repeat until you run out. At the end pour good oil olive into the jar until full. After sitting in the fridge for awhile they were soft, yet intensely flavored.

The best part is you know what's going into them.