A common ingredient in Italian cuisine is sun-dried tomatoes. This is the usual food for the peoples of the Mediterranean. On the shelves of our stores you can find beautiful jars with this product, but their cost is high. But the dish can be obtained at home, this is the strength of every housewife. How to cook sun-dried tomatoes? With what they eat and where to add, read the article.
General information
Sun-dried tomatoes are popular in the world. Each country uses this dish, cooked according to its own unique recipes. Before using the product, it should be soaked in hot water for 10 minutes. So the excess salt will leave the tomatoes and they will be tender. This vegetable for the first time began to fade in Greece, Turkey, Italy. Today they are sold in any store, and are also prepared independently.
Italians learned to dry tomatoes in the 19th century. Soon, factories for the production of this product appeared. At first the vegetables were dried by hand. To do this, peeled and cut into slices tomatoes were laid out in one layer on tiled roofs, but only on sunny days. They did not use seasonings, as they did this to preserve vegetables for the winter, and not to get a tasty dish. Much later, spices with different flavors began to be added, as a result of which sun-dried tomatoes (photo presented for review) gained popularity. They learned how to cook at home.
Sun-dried tomatoes in the oven
Before you begin the process, you need to choose vegetables. It is preferable to buy red tomatoes with dense and fleshy pulp. Most suitable are such varieties as "ladies' fingers", "cream", "grapes", "cherry" with a small amount of juice. Sun-dried vegetables have an amazing taste and are unusual for Russians as a snack, as they appeared in our country quite recently. To prepare sun-dried tomatoes in the oven, you should stock up in advance:
- Tomatoes of high quality.
- Towels made of fabric or paper.
- With a wire rack, although you can use a baking sheet, the devices should be covered with parchment in advance.
- With a spray bottle, but not for cosmetics, but kitchen. If there is no such house, you can use a silicone brush.
- Glass jars.
How to make sun-dried tomatoes? The most common and popular way is to cook them in the oven. If you use Provencal herbs, such tomatoes are called "Provencal dried." You can experiment with spices by combining them in different combinations, but it is better to grind before use to preserve the aroma. You can use herbs, making a choice on your preferences, since not all people like the specific smell of exotic plants.
The technology for preparing sun-dried tomatoes at home is as follows:
- The vegetables are washed thoroughly and wiped dry with a towel made of soft cotton cloth so as not to damage the skin.
- Cut into halves. If large specimens come across, you can divide them into four parts.
- Seeds and juice are removed. To do this, use a spoon. If you do not remove the liquid, a lot of steam is formed, which will significantly increase the drying time.
- Cut down tomatoes are laid out on a wire rack, if one is not available or if it is not provided for in an electrical appliance, a baking sheet is used.
- Salt, ground pepper and herbs are combined, everything mixes well.
- The mixture is sprinkled with vegetables.
- Processed with vegetable oil using a spray bottle or brush.
- When everything is laid out, sprinkled, anointed, the baking sheet can be sent to the oven. The process of drying the tomatoes will take four to six hours at a temperature of 80 o C. This will depend on what size pieces of tomatoes and how much juice they have.
The procedure is accompanied by a large release of steam, so it is better to use an oven equipped with a special function called “convection” of the masses of steam for drying. If there is none, an hour after the start of drying, the oven door is opened and left until the end of the process. During the drying of tomatoes, their weight will decrease by 60-70%. For example, if there were five kilograms of fresh tomatoes, you get a little more than one.
Air-Cured Sun-Dried Tomatoes
How to make sun-dried tomatoes using household appliances of this type? The technology of cooking at home is as follows:
- Vegetables are prepared in the usual way, as for drying in the oven: they are washed, wiped, cut, freed from seeds and juice.
- The cloves of one head of garlic are finely chopped.
- Tomatoes are laid out on an aerogrill tray with slices up.
- Sprinkled with a mixture of herbs, peppers and garlic.
- Then you need to cover the appliance with a lid by inserting sticks under it to ensure air circulation.
- Preparation of sun-dried tomatoes takes three hours at a temperature of 95 about C.
- The lid needs to be opened from time to time and watched so that the tomatoes do not dry out.
- The readiness of the product is easy to check, just press on the slices with your finger. If the fluid does not leak, the cooking process is completed.
Dried vegetables in a slow cooker
Similarly, you can cook tomatoes at home using a slow cooker. To do this, you must set the “Baking” mode on the device, and remove the valve so that moisture evaporates more quickly. Preparation, stacking of vegetables, as well as cooking time are the same as when drying in an air grill.
Tomatoes in the dryer
Vegetables can be dried in an electric current dryer. The drying procedure is much more economical, and the taste of the product is no different. Their preparation is the same as for cooking in other devices. For information: in the classic Italian recipe, sea salt is used, and herbs are selected independently, depending on preferences. You can use this set: dried garlic, basil, oregano, savory.
The electric dryer is preheated for 5-10 minutes, while it should be empty, the pallets should be removed in advance. After that, the temperature is set at 70 o C. If the device is equipped with a built-in timer, it must be set for eight to nine hours. After an hour or a half, the pallets need to be interchanged, as the bottom warms up always more actively due to the proximity to the fan. After the set time, the sun-dried tomatoes are ready.
Microwave tomatoes
Get dried tomatoes using this household appliance under the power of every housewife. This method is considered the simplest and fastest. Vegetables are prepared, sprinkled with seasoning in the same way as in other cases. The highest power is set on the microwave, a tray with tomatoes is placed inside and the device turns on for five minutes. Vegetables are not taken out, they need to stand for three to four minutes.
Then the device turns on for the same time. After this, the dishes with vegetables are removed, juice is drained from it. But it is not necessary to throw it away, it is still useful. Then again, the pallet is placed inside the device, which should be turned on for 10 minutes. When the cooking time is up, you do not need to immediately remove the vegetables from the oven, let them stand for seven minutes. The dish is ready, it remains to pour the slices of tomatoes with oil, mixing it with the juice allocated during cooking.
How to cook sun-dried tomatoes for long-term storage?
When it comes time to harvest various vegetables, I want to prepare them for the winter. The flight of thought at this time is unlimited. Mistresses use old, time-tested recipes, but do not forget to try new ones. One of them is sun-dried tomatoes for the winter. To prepare them, you need the following ingredients:
- Tomatoes are medium in size.
- Refined vegetable oil, it is better to use olive, but if it is not, sunflower is also suitable.
- Salt to taste.
- Aromatic dry herbs such as rosemary, cloves, thyme and others.
- Red pepper.
- Garlic.
- Balsamic vinegar.
Prepared vegetables can be dried in any way presented above in the article. While the tomatoes are drying, prepare a dressing. For this, vegetable oil is taken at the rate of 250 ml per 1.5 kg of vegetables and is heated, but not brought to a boil. Salt, spices are added there, everything is mixed and covered. You need to wait until the mixture takes room temperature.
The prepared jars are filled with sun-dried tomatoes and poured with the prepared dressing with the addition of garlic, a few plates are enough. Before the sunset, a large spoon of balsamic vinegar is poured into a liter jar. The containers are sealed with metal lids using a seaming machine and placed in a cold place. They will be stored all winter.
Canned Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Harvesting for the winter can be done differently. To do this, dried vegetables should be placed in jars, alternating them with garlic and basil. When they are filled, oil is added. If you plan to store the blanks for six to eight months in the refrigerator, the oil does not need heat treatment. But if you want the tomatoes to stand longer, it should be calcined, and also replace the fresh seasoning with the dried seasoning. In this case, the product is poured with hot oil, but not boiled. All pieces should be covered with it. After seaming, the jars must be shaken so that oil gets on the lid, then condensation will not form on it.
How to use sun-dried tomatoes?
This product is used to prepare a large number of dishes. In the composition of other ingredients, sun-dried tomatoes do not lose their taste, but rather make your diet more diverse. And yet, where are the sun-dried tomatoes added? From the experience of the world's leading culinary experts, such tomatoes are especially good in the following dishes:
- Vegetable, fish, meat salads.
- In the first dishes - soup and soups.
- Sun-dried tomatoes are served with rice balls and fried potatoes at the same time as Italian-style appetizers.
- They are eaten with chicken roll and meatballs.
However, it is not necessary to serve the tomatoes with a dish or use them as an ingredient. They are good as a standalone snack. For example, anoint croutons with butter, put a few slices of dried vegetables with a leaf of basil and enjoy the spicy taste.
Useful qualities
Sun-dried tomatoes bring great benefits to the human body:
- They are included in the menu of various diets, since the calorie content of dried vegetables is small.
- Use if the body lacks vitamins and minerals.
- Sun-dried tomatoes are rich in crude fiber, which improves the digestive system, normalizes stool.
- The regular use of such tomatoes strengthens the nervous system. The product contains serotonin - the “hormone of happiness”, thanks to which a person feels better, his mood rises.
- The systematic presence of a dried vegetable on the table improves brain function and memory.
- Prevents the formation of blood clots in the vessels.
- Normalizes the work of the heart.
- It removes fluid from the body, preventing swelling.
- Enhances potency.
How to store?
Sun-dried tomatoes at home, according to the recipe of Italian chefs, many housewives take their place in the refrigerator in the absence of a cellar. If tomatoes are placed in jars and filled with oil that has passed the hardening procedure, then they can be stored for a sufficiently long time, two to three years. If this is not done, then the shelf life is much shorter. If there is a cellar with sun-dried tomatoes at home, there are no problems. Indoors, the temperature is always low, and you can place a lot of products.