Home grown sundried tomatoes

There is a cafe next door to where I work and as the creature of habit that I am I always order the same lunch when I decide to buy out. It's called the Italian, there is pesto mayo a sourdough roll and juicy sundried tomatoes amongst others.

Sundried tomatoes can a success or a complete disaster all chewy and bitter. So this summer when I had a bumper crop of juicy cherry tomatoes in my mini greenhouse I decided to make the most of them and make my own sundried tomatoes.

It can be a slow process but well worth it I promise.

For this recipe you will need:

Cherry tomatoes of any quantity

Salt and pepper to season

Good quality olive oil

Start by pre heating your oven to 90'c.

Wash your tomatoes and slice them all in half, then place them all on large baking tray.

Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper.

Pop the tray into the oven and set your timer for 2 hours and get on with joyous task of cleaning the house.

After 2 hours your tomatoes should look shrivelled but not cremated by roasting them on a low heat it will intensify the flavour while keeping them juicy.

Spoon the warm tomatoes into a sterilised jar and then pour in your olive oil until it covers the tomatoes. 

By doing this while the tomatoes are warm the oil will infuse with the tomatoes to make a gorgeous dressing or drizzle for future sambos YUM.

Enjoy

Rebecca x

Plum jam in a hurry

I love when plums are in season and even better when they are ripe and ready for the picking.

I picked up a punnet the other week while doing the weekly shop and I knew exactly what I was going to make JAM. Plum jam has the softest sweetest taste that you would be forgiven if you eat it straight from the jar.

This recipe will make you two jars of plum jam.

For this recipe you will need

500g of ripe plums

500g of caster sugar

2 tablespoons of water

1 lemon

Begin by putting the plums in a medium sized pot then pour in the water {I didn't remove the stones from the plums as I sieved the jam at the end}

Bring to the boil then reduce to a medium heat and let simmer until you see the skin begin to peel off.

With a wooden spoon stir the plums every now and then.

Next add in your sugar and and continue to stir until all the sugar has dissolved.

Cut your lemon in half and squeeze the juice in the pot then pop the remains of the lemon in also.

As your jam is cooking thoroughly wash your jars and pop them in a pre heated oven at 180 for ten minutes.

Let the jam bubble away on a low to medium heat and every 5-10 minutes check the jam on the back of a spoon, if you can run your finger down the center of it and it leaves a line that shows the jam is ready to be jarred.

I pushed the plum jam through a conical colinder so as to catch the stones and piths from the lemons. I then spooned the plump flesh from the plums into the jars leaving the stringy fibers behind.

Enjoy

Rebecca x