Sorta Sun Dried Tomatoes

I haven't posted any food lately. Well, other than Italian food...made by Italians. I meant food made by me. So, I thought I'd share a super easy way to make your own sun dried tomatoes...without the sun.

Tomato season is winding down, but these days you can get at least decent tomatoes all year round. But, this recipe is best (of course) when tomatoes are at their finest.

Here's what you need:

Tomatoes
Olive Oil
Salt
Sugar
Dried Thyme

That's it. Preheat your oven to 500. Yes, 500.

These tomatoes are smallish. In between a cherry tomato and a regular sized one. This recipe works great on cherry tomatoes but I wanted to try out a little bigger one, just for kicks.

Pull any stems off the tomatoes and slice them in half. Lay out, cut sides up on a baking sheet. Drizzle with a good amount of olive oil. Sprinkle with a few pinches of salt, a few pinches of sugar and a few pinches of dried thyme.

They'll look like this. Then you smoosh them all around to make sure the oil coats them all over.

Then they'll look like this. But you need to turn them so they're all cut side up again. This is the most work you will do on this recipe. 

Then you put them in your 500 degree oven. As soon as you shut the oven door (THIS IS IMPORTANT) turn the oven completely OFF.

Now that they're in there...DON'T OPEN THE OVEN DOOR for at least eight hours. I usually think to make these at about noon. I have left them in the turned off oven for a day and a half because I forgot about them. They were no worse for the wear.

Normally, when I use cherry tomatoes they look more like a traditional sun dried tomato. These were a bit bigger. Delicious, nonetheless. Pop them into a container and keep in the fridge. DON'T forget to scrape in any of the oil in the pan too. 

I use these in pastas, salads, or on sandwiches. Yummo. And how easy are they?