Keeping the harvest...

So, in preparation for our trip, I needed to clean out the fridge and do something with all of the produce sitting on our counter. A pound and a half of cherry tomatoes, several pounds of big tomatoes, a large bunch of basil, some summer squash, eggplant, and bell peppers. And half a watermelon. Yikes!

First up, the cherry tomatoes. I could swear I recently read an article about oven-dried cherry tomatoes, but I don't know where. So, I googled it, found several recipes, and loosely incorporated them into my method today. I turned the oven on to 250 degrees. Lined a baking sheet with foil, then drizzled it with oil. Halved the tomatoes and arranged them cut-side up in a single layer on the baking sheet. Sprinkled with salt, ground a bit of pepper over the top, and tossed on some sprigs of thyme and chopped oregano from the garden. Then I put the pan in the oven and set the timer for 2 hours. Yep, 2 hours. Checked them at that point, and let them go another 45 minutes beyond that, until they'd transformed into the little gems you see in the photo above. The aroma coming from the oven was fantastic. My tiny Honeybunch tomatoes became almost crisp and chewy, while the larger Sungolds and other cherry tomatoes were still a bit juicy, but with their natural sugars all caramelized and concentrated. Mmmm. I let the pan cool on the counter for a bit, then I transfered the whole pan to the freezer. When the tomatoes were frozen, I popped them into a ziplock bag for later use as pizza toppings.

Next up, the big tomatoes. I've never tried this before, but someone on the CLBB mentioned that she cores the tomatoes then freezes them whole, for later use in soups, stews and sauces. I figured I'd give it a try. Supposedly, the skins remove easily when the tomatoes thaw- we'll see! It was easy to do and I now have two large bags of tomatoes in my freezer.

The basil- that was easy. Pesto! I had some on spaghetti for my lunch, and froze the rest.

Eggplant, summer squash, and peppers. Hmm. I chopped them all up along with some garlic and onions, put the whole lot in a large roasting pan, drizzled it with olive oil and put it in the oven. Once the vegetables had softened, I added my 4 remaining tomatoes, diced, and let the vegetables roast a while longer. I had some olive focaccia on hand, so I split the bread, piled on roasted veggies and topped with some crumbled feta. Dinner was served, and the leftover roasted vegetables will go into the freezer.

Before I go to bed, I'll chunk up the remaining watermelon and freeze it- maybe we can try some watermelon slush or agua fresca when we get back...