Oh HEY! Do any of you remember when I was reading Animal, Vegetable, Mineral and making all the recipes in the book? And then all of a sudden. I just....stopped. Well it was because of the tomato. That pesky pesky tomato. A food I normally adore that has become my nemesis in the past year.
See, the next recipes called for sun dried tomatoes. And when I got to the chapter, it was January. And January is not really a very good time for sun drying tomatoes. So I decided to wait till the summer. And during the summer, put my little tomatoes out on our deck and I waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Months went by. Nothing. Thatboy decided that even if they DID dry, there was no way he was touching those things.
I spoke to my boss at the time and told her about my tomatoes. "You cut them in half, and put them on your deck and they didn't dry?" She asked.
*Silence* "Cut them in half?" I asked.
She laughed for a VERY long time and informed me that in order for my little plan to work, I needed to cut the tomatoes in half. And I didn't. But by now, summer was over and cold weather was setting in. So I kind of shelved that idea.
And then January rolled around again. And I made it my New Years Resolution to finish what I had started. Sun or no sun, those tomatoes were getting dried! So I decided to oven dry my tomatoes instead of sun drying. It took much less time, maybe because I cut them in half this time. They came out PERFECTLY!
And those recipes that required their use? Definitely some of the best in the book.
See, the next recipes called for sun dried tomatoes. And when I got to the chapter, it was January. And January is not really a very good time for sun drying tomatoes. So I decided to wait till the summer. And during the summer, put my little tomatoes out on our deck and I waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Months went by. Nothing. Thatboy decided that even if they DID dry, there was no way he was touching those things.
I spoke to my boss at the time and told her about my tomatoes. "You cut them in half, and put them on your deck and they didn't dry?" She asked.
*Silence* "Cut them in half?" I asked.
She laughed for a VERY long time and informed me that in order for my little plan to work, I needed to cut the tomatoes in half. And I didn't. But by now, summer was over and cold weather was setting in. So I kind of shelved that idea.
And then January rolled around again. And I made it my New Years Resolution to finish what I had started. Sun or no sun, those tomatoes were getting dried! So I decided to oven dry my tomatoes instead of sun drying. It took much less time, maybe because I cut them in half this time. They came out PERFECTLY!
And those recipes that required their use? Definitely some of the best in the book.
Sundried Tomato Pesto (recipe available at animalvegetablemiracle.com)
- I'm not a huge sun dried tomato fan. In fact, you could go as far as to say I don't really like them. But this pesto is amazing fantastic. I crave it. I think I might very well dream about it. I love it spread on a piece of toast. I toss it with our pasta. And the other night I even tossed some roasted potatoes in it which was delicious (and so was the tossing bowl which I may or may not have licked)
Antipasta Tomatoes (recipe can be found at animalvegetablemiracle.com)
- I didn't love these as much as the pesto, but I already expressed my dis-love of sun dried tomato. I've been using these to dress up chicken salad, tossed with pasta, or as a lovely addition to bruschetta.
You have inspired me to make sun-dried tomato pesto which I have never thought to do until now. Even the store bought kind is delicious mixed in with a nice chicken or turkey burger!!
ReplyDeleteI love the super intense flavor of sun-dried or oven-dried tomatoes. And doing them yourself probably gives them WAY more flavor. Glad you're back on track with AVM!
ReplyDeleteFunny! Love sun dried tomatoes. Looks fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE sundried tomato pesto and have been making it for a long while. ONe of my favourite (and most decadent) things to do with it, is slather a whole whack of it on top of a brie round, thinly slice garlic (a hole head) all over that, and mix it in... then cover the entire round with puff pastry. 40 minutes at 400F and you will have HEAVEN in your hands.
ReplyDeleteLet it sit 15 minutes - or even more - or it will run all over when you slice it. I serve it on a cake pedestal on an appetizer buffet... or whatever.
Your dried tomatoes look DIVINE!
:)
Valerie