Foodie Friday: Preserving summer

Corn and tomatoes…two of the best things about summer!

I’ve got so many ripe tomatoes on the vine that some just split and fall off. (Breaks my heart!) We’re trying to include them with every meal, as well as give them away to friends, but still too many! So last weekend, as we puttered in, out, and around the house we were slowly roasting and drying tomatoes of all kinds and sizes in the oven, including our little yellow cherry variety. If you love the sweet taste of cherry tomatoes right off the vine, then you’ll really love them smeared on your next nibble of cheese and crackers….pretty fabulous.

We also love our summer corn. Murph ordered a freshly picked sack of corn from our local organic farm. That same puttering afternoon, he set up a corn cleaning station right outside the kitchen door, and shucked the whole bagful, cleaned off all the silk, placed them in a huge stock pot  filled with 3-inches of water and steamed them for 5 minutes. After rinsing them with cold water for a minute, the corn was cool enough to handle. With a sharp knife he cut the kernels off each cob, and filled multiple ziplock bags (3 ears per bag), marked each with the date, and  stored them in the freezer…perfect for a mid-autumn or winter corn chowder.

Late Summer Oven Dried Tomatoes

Tomatoes (any variety and size)

Olive Oil

Cookie sheet lined with foil

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Cut tomatoes into halves or quarters (depends on size), and spread out onto oiled foil.
• After about 2 hours check for doneness and be sure to keep checking every half hour – but don’t touch! You can also do multiple batches using all your racks.
• Let cool and place dried tomatoes in an airtight container – fill with olive oil to cover.

Best to do this on a day you’re around the house, because the whole process takes about 5-6 hours (depending on the size of the tomatoes) .

Enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

Love, Nora