Homemade sun-blush tomatoes

Sadly I can't grow my own tomatoes, but instead I bought a big bag of juicy ones for just a pound at the market! Far tastier and more economical than the overpriced anaemic rubbish you get in supermarkets.

A great way to deal with a glut of tomatoes is drying them. I love sun-dried or sun-blush tomatoes, they're delicious in a rocket salad, with pasta, in sandwiches, a whole array of different uses! Sadly in the UK we don't have that blazing Mediterranean sun to dry things in the air, but instead, it's quite simple to put them in a very low oven for a few hours.

If you want oven-blush tomatoes, take them out when they're still juicy, keep in the fridge and use them in a few days. Otherwise leave them til they've shrivelled but not too dark, and pack them in jars of olive oil. The tomatoey oil is delicious for cooking, salad dressings or with bread dipped in it!

Recipe

• Lots of tomatoes (say 300-500g)
• Oil
• Thyme or oregano
• Salt
• Few cloves of garlic

1. Cut your tomatoes in half across the middle.
2. In a bowl, mix them with 2 tbsp oil, herbs and salt so they are all coated.
3. Pack them into a baking dish or tray, cut side up.
4. Put your oven on a low heat (80-100C), and cook for about 3 hours or more until they've reached the consistency you require.
5. Remove and cool.
6. Slice or thickly chop a couple of cloves of garlic.
7. Take a couple of sterilised jars and pack the tomatoes and garlic inside.
8. Top up with good olive oil.

Variations

Add as much garlic as you like, personally I love the garlicky oil. Sliced or dried chillis also add a good kick.

A food dehyrator is obviously a good way to dry tomatoes, but if you're lucky enough to have sun hot enough to actually dry things, prepare them as above then put on racks in full sun. Cover with muslin to keep the flies off and bring in at night. They'll dry in a couple of days. Apparently leaving them in a hot car also works!