This is a very easy recipe for semi-dried cherry tomatoes. Because they are semi-dried, they don’t need to be rehydrated as much as fully dried tomatoes, so they can be made in a shorter time. Fully dried tomatoes will keep longer, but semi-dried tomatoes can also be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week if soaked in olive oil. Semi-dried tomatoes remain juicy, so you can eat them as is on a slice of bread or with a glass of wine. Of course, you can use the semi dried tomatoes as part of the ingredients, such as pasta or tomato sauce.
I first knew about sun dried tomatoes when I was in the UK. My friend used dried tomatoes in a variety of dishes and I found that they give deeper flavor and umami. Dried tomatoes were easy to find in the UK. But unfortunately, they are hard to find in ordinary grocery stores in Japan. They are sometimes available, but they are chopped and expensive. So, I thought it would be easy to make them at home, and this recipe is what I came up with. I thought that fully dried tomatoes is a little hard to make, because it takes a lot of time to bake in the oven and I’m not sure how long it takes depending on the water content of the tomatoes. So I always enjoy semi-dried one. I make it like every week and store it in the refrigerator.
I actually don’t like raw tomatoes, but I can enjoy them when made into semi-dried tomatoes. Tomatoes are rich in vitamins, so I like to eat a lot of them. Semi-dried tomatoes are my savior.
What you need to make for Semi-dried Cherry Tomatoes
It’s required only the following three ingredients.
- cherry tomatoes as needed
- salt for lightly sprinkling over tomatoes
- olive oil for covering
How to make Easy Oven Semi-dried Cherry Tomatoes
Firstly, cut the rinsed tomatoes in half. It’s better to cut the tomatoes from the side rather than from the stem. Because that way the water evaporates from the tomatoes more easily.
Then place the tomatoes cut side up on an oven tray lined with parchment paper (do not to use a cooking mat, as they will stick to the dried tomatoes). And sprinkle lightly with salt all over.
Bake the tomatoes at 140ºC(275ºF) for 90 minutes. Pre-heating is unnecessary.
Once it’s baked, let them cool in the oven for about 1 hour. Then put the completely cooled tomatoes in a clean airtight container and pour enough olive oil to cover the tomatoes. If the tomatoes are exposed to air, it might get moldy, so be sure to add plenty olive oil. You can also add dried herbs and garlic as you like.
Keep in the refrigerator and eat within a week. It’s very tasty!
Easy Oven Semi-dried Cherry Tomatoes
Ingredients
- cherry tomatoes as needed
- salt for lightly sprinkling over tomatoes
- olive oil for covering
Instructions
- Cut the rinsed tomatoes in half. It's better to cut the tomatoes from the side rather than from the stem. Because that way the water evaporates from the tomatoes more easily.
- Place the tomatoes cut side up on an oven tray lined with parchment paper (do not to use a cooking mat, as they will stick to the dried tomatoes).
- Sprinkle lightly with salt all over and bake the tomatoes at 140ºC(275ºF) for 90 minutes. Pre-heating is unnecessary.
- Once it's baked, let cool in the oven for about 1 hour. Then put the completely cooled tomatoes in a clean airtight container and pour enough olive oil to cover the tomatoes. If the tomatoes are exposed to air, it might get moldy, so be sure to add plenty oil. You can also add dried herbs and garlic as you like.
- Keep in the refrigerator and eat within a week.
