MONITOR:Oven dry your own tomatoes at home to intensify their flavour, writes HUGO ARNOLD
AUGUST IS SOMETHING of a red month, and tomatoes are top of my list. They have become popular larder additions in recent years, either bought in their dried state or more usually in an expensive but pretty jar, the contents submerged in olive oil. They are better again when they are home-made, dried for a long time in a low oven. What you lose in longevity you gain in flavour.
We may not have the climate for growing our own tomatoes outdoors, but as greenhouse owners know, we have sufficient sunshine. Most of us however, are faced with buying our tomatoes. At least for the next few weeks, the disappointing under-ripe tomatoes of the winter months have been replaced with fruits – for that is what they are – of deep, ruby red. Cherry tomatoes certainly deliver sweetness, but for real beefiness it is more likely to be their adult cousins that deliver; plum are a favourite of the canning industry, and with good reason – they have attitude.
You can dry a cherry tomato, but it takes a lot of them to go a short way. Pick something larger and you have more to play with. An oven at its lowest setting – Aga owners take note – is required, and after that it is really down to time and patience. Overnight might sound an odd way to cook, but this isn’t really cooking at all.
Bulk production is to be encouraged here, so strike a deal and buy in large quantities. Two trays’ worth is really worthwhile. Slice the tomatoes in half lengthways and sprinkle with a pinch of sugar, salt and black pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and slide them into the oven. You want most of the liquid to come out of the tomatoes so they are firm and chewy. It’s hard to be precise on timing, but six or seven hours is a guide. Raise the heat too much and you will have mush.
You can ring the changes by adding a sliver of garlic to each tomato half, or a sprig of rosemary, perhaps. Chilli also works well, but this is not for everyone. Steer clear of the likes of basil or any of the lighter herbs, such as tarragon or chervil, as their flavour will disappear. It is better to bring fresh basil in later when you start to use your tomatoes; a salad of these concentrated nuggets of summer deliciousness with some unctuous mozzarella will always welcome basil, but so too will a salad with flaked ricotta, black olives and toasted pine nuts. The tomato halves bring a punchy flavour.
Chickpeas, boiled for an hour or so to render them tender, make an earthy summer salad when tossed with chilli, lime and coriander leaves, the tomato halves nestling in to add colour and substance.
It is not only salads that welcome dried tomatoes. Chicken, pan-roasted to a crisp succulent finish and served with nutty lentils, two or three oven-dried tomatoes and a slick of basil oil served us well on a warm evening spent catching early-evening sunshine in the garden last week. They came out of the fridge again a few days later to partner sauteed squid and chorizo, served with a mound of rocket salad, and yet again when I roasted slabs of thick, succulent cod, the meaty fish served with just-boiled fennel and a mound of wobbly aioli. The tomatoes added colour and attitude.
If you have a glut of tomatoes, or get carried away, you can also stew them slowly with ginger, mustard seeds, garlic, vinegar and sugar to make a chilli jam for the autumn. Bottled sunshine.
