Tomatoes - Off season

This may not be the best time of year for finding good slicing tomatoes, but there are some tasty ways to make use of tomatoes when they are out of season. My favorite way is to make Oven Roasted Tomatoes.  Roasting produces a semi-dry tomato with a concentrated flavor and a chewy texture. It fares nicely in pasta and grain dishes. Pureed, they make a lovely base for roasted tomato soup.

 
Oven Roasted Tomatoes

4 ripe Roma tomatoes
Sea salt
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 250°.  Cut tomatoes into 1" slices.  Arrange cut side down in a parchment-lined jelly roll pan in a single layer. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake 2-3 hours until soft and wrinkled. Cool and use or refrigerate.

 
Another way to add tomato flavor is to use sun-dried tomatoes. These can be bought packed in oil or a dried form that can easily be reconstituted . You can also make your own in a food dehydrator or in your oven.

 
Making Sun-dried Tomatoes
Cut Roma tomatoes in half and scoop out the seeds. Remove the little white hard part near where the stem was attached. Place in dehydrator and dry according to manufacturer's instructions. Or... place on rack in baking pans and leave in a very low oven (150°) until no longer sticky... 15-20 hrs. or so. Cool. Store in glass jars or plastic bags.

 
Reconstituting Sun-dried tomatoes
Pour boiling water over the dried tomatoes in a small bowl. Cover the bowl with a plate and let the tomatoes soak until softened. Drain. Mix tomatoes with minced garlic, if desired. Stuff tomatoes into a jar and cover with olive oil. Store in refrigerator.