Lovely fresh Tomatoes from the Deli Truck

Had a lot of vibrant coloured, fully ripened and very tasty tomatoes left over from our Sunday event at the Valance school. If you’ve never made oven dried tomatoes (especially with uber-ripe ones) you have to try this. Cut tomatoes in half, put into a baking tray, dust with salt and pepper, fresh thyme and olive oil – then put in the oven at just 100/110 degrees centigrade for 6 to 7 hours.  Or overnight at 90 degrees for 10 to 12 hours. It’s indescribable how different the tomatoes end up – it’s like 20 tomatoes distilled into one. As the water (which makes up 80% of the tomato) evaporates, you end up with a super-concentrated tomato taste that is both sweet and savoury and lightly caramelised. Squashed onto a toasted and buttered slice of sourdough, this is a meal in itself.

After 8 hours in the oven at just 100 degrees. the Tomatoes lightly caramelise and intensify in flavour