Semi-dried cherry tomatoes recipe

Semi-dried cherry tomatoes are one of my favourite things to have in the fridge. They have a delicious, rich, sweetness to them which complements many recipes, and a batch doesn’t take long to make, which is good because a batch also doesn’t last very long in my house!

Every now and then I’ll head to my local farmers’ markets and if I get there at the right time (near closing) I can often grab bulk quantities of mini tomatoes at discounted prices.

This recipe works well for any type of small tomato – mini Romas, cherry tomatoes etc. You could do the same thing for regular Roma tomatoes however you will need to adjust the drying times to take into account the higher water quantities larger fruit will contain.

How to use semi-dried cherry tomatoes

The process of semi-drying tomatoes removes some of the water in the tomatoes which in turn deepens the flavour, but they are still tomatoes (duh, Xanthe!), so you can pretty much use them wherever you would use fresh tomatoes.

I add them to spaghetti Bolognese (this Jamie Oliver recipe is a favourite of mine). I sprinkle them on salads (keep it really simple with lettuce, thinly sliced red onion, cucumber rounds and semi-drieds, drizzled with an ACV/EVOO dressing and a generous sprinkling of salt and this pepper). I add them to pizza. I top smashed avo on toast with them, along with a few toasted pinenuts plus salt and that pepper I mentioned before.

Semi-dried cherry tomatoes recipe

I have tried making this recipe with honey to see if it works without the need for refined sugars. In my opinion, the finished product is not as nice as it is when plain white sugar is use. I don’t like the flavour that using honey gives the tomatoes. It’s a bit of a weird combination, if you ask me, and considering the amount of sugar used is quite low and I have a fairly low sugar intake in general anyway, it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make for the sake of taste. If you try this recipe with honey let me know your thoughts!

2 punnets cherry tomatoes or mini Romas
1/2 tspn caster sugar
1 tspn salt
cracked pepper, to taste (this pepper is my favourite and it’s Aussie!!)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil for roasting, plus up to a cup for storing

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celcius. Slice tomatoes in half lengthways. Gently mix together in bowl with sugar, salt, pepper and oil. Tip onto baking tray lined with paper and turn so that cut side is up. Roast for up to one hour, or just until edges of tomatoes are starting to brown. Turn oven off and leave to cool with door ajar. Transfer cooled tomatoes to storage jar and cover with EVOO. Tap the jar to remove air bubbles and ensure all tomatoes are covered with the oil. Refrigerate immediately and use within a week.