"Sundried" Tomatoes

This time of year is all about preserving the glut of produce for the dark winter ahead. We always try and preserve as many tomatoes as we can ( not that easy because it is hard not to eat the buggers straight off the plant). I grew only cherry tomatoes this year but grew a few different varieties. One that I missed out on though was the sungold which my pig buddy Graham grew. They are the sweetest, tastiest tomatoes I ever tasted and are definitely top of my list for next year.

Seeing as we don't get enough sun in Carlow to sun dry the tomatoes I need to cheat a little. Instead of doing as the Italians do and allowing them to dry under the sun I need a little help from the oven!

The method is very simple. Get a wire rack and put the oven on its lowest setting, around 50 or 60 degrees. Next cut your tomatoes in half and place on the wire rack with the cut side facing up. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle some sugar and salt over them. Into the oven they go for an hour before turning them over so that the cut part is on the wire rack. They need another 11 hours in the oven before they are done. They turn out "semi sundried" with this amount of time in the oven which is how I prefer them. To store them simply out them in a jar and top them up with olive oil and maybe some dried herbs such as oregano.