Semi oven dried tomatoes.

I prefer semi dried tomatoes to fully dried ones. They are much more flavorful than the often leathery and chewy dried tomatoes. In a salad they are unbeatable, with pasta unforgettable and as a crostini for apero with a glass of wine , just delightful. I don’t give quantities in this recipe, it depends on how many tomatoes you have on hand. I used tomatoes from our potager which is bountiful at the moment. So come on, make your summer linger a bit longer and dry some seasonal tomatoes, from your own vegetable patch or from the market!

Recipe:

  • plum or roma tomatoes
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil and sunflower oil
  • dried provencal herbs
  1. Preheat the oven to 130 degrees C.
  2. Line baking trays with baking paper.
  3. Wash and dry the tomatoes, cut in half and remove the seeds.
  4. Place the tomatoes in rows, cut side up on to the baking trays.
  5. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
  6. Bake for about 2 hours or until the tomatoes start to curl up at the sides. Turn the heat down to 100 degr C and bake for another hour. Keep an eye on the tomatoes from now on so they don’t burn.
  7. Remove from the oven, leave to cool and add tightly packed to glass jars with lids and fill with olive oil or a mix of olive oil and sunflower oil, Store in fridge. ( Will keep for about 2 weeks) Use the oil for cooking or vinaigrette.

In the potager.

Tomatoes from the potager.

Wash and dry the tomatoes.

Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise and remove the seeds.

Place cut side up onto baking tray.

Courgette tart with feta…and a potager.

The courgettes are overflowing in the potager and we eat it every way we can, this time around as a courgette tart. I love salty tarts and this tart is right up my alley. I always have puff pastry in my freezer, so while the puff pastry defrosts, I make the preparation and the tart is assembled as soon as the courgettes have cooled down. It is really a no-fuss tart and it can be adapted to suit every taste. I hope you like it enough to try it.

Pinch of salt:

  • Add goats cheese instead of feta cheese.
  • Add slices of tomato to your preparation.
  • Oven roast the courgettes for a different taste.
  • Add pine nuts to your preparation.
  • The tart can be made a day ahead and kept in the fridge. Reheat at 200 degr C for 10 minutes.
  • The tart can be frozen for later use.

Our potager is my husband’s kingdom. A potager is a lot of work and maintenance, so every morning he is out there, cleaning, planting, weeding or just paying attention. We have had some good rains lately, so the potager is green and lush and looking good, which means the weeds are looking good too. The following photos tell the story of life in a potager.