Sundried Tomatoes in Olive Oil

Sundried Tomatoes in Olive Oil

This post was prompted by a shopping trip, on which I saw sundried tomatoes in olive oil in bottles being sold for R56.00 (US$8), well I am going to show you how to do it just as well for a lot less money.


I use the tomatoes in a lot of dishes, such as salads, pasta bakes etc and therefore they are useful to have around.  


Ingredients:
3 packets  Sundried tomatoes
4-5              200ml bottles with air tight lids sterilised (refer to the notes)
1 liter          Extra virgin Olive oil


Method:
Put the sundried tomatoes into the jars, making sure there is a bit of space at the top of the jar.
You want to fill the jar to about 3/4.
Put the olive oil in a pot on the stove on a medium heat and warm it up.
Do not make it extremely hot, if you have a kitchen thermometer then about 90-100 deg. C
Once the oil is hot, pour it over the tomatoes, making sure that it covers the tomatoes by about 1 cm (10mm)
Leave to cool and then put the cap on and keep in the cupboard.  They will keep in the cupboard for about 10 months, once opened though you will need to refrigerate, and use fairly quickly.


Notes:
The Jars:
You can either collect old jam jars, or buy the shop bought jars, the one in the picture I paid R7 (US$1)/ bottle.  Sterilise them by either submerging in boiling water, or I trick that I use is to put them in my son's old baby bottle microwave steriliser.  8 minutes in the microwave and they are perfect.


The Tomatoes:
Because this is a store cupboard item, I keep and eye on the fresh produce section of the supermarket or green grocer, as often times you will find sundried tomatoes at very cheap prices.  When they go on sale I make this recipe as I know that I have stock for a while.  When sundried tomatoes are packed in polystyrene and cellophane wrapping they tend to go mouldy, watch out for this, as you don't want to put the mould in your jars.


The Olive Oil:
Again this is an item that I keep an eye on constantly, and when I see an extra virgin olive oil go on sale, I purchase for just such an occasion. The reason I use extra virgin, as apposed pomace oil or any other inferior quality oil, is that I use the oil in pasta dishes and salads.  One of my favourites is a warm pasta salad with chopped up sundried tomatoes and the oil from the bottle drizzled over warm fusilli pasta.  The heating of the oil is optional, but it does help in keeping things sterile, and it also speeds up the usefulness of the tomatoes.  If you do it this way, you have tender and juicy tomatoes in a couple of hours, whereas cold oil, takes a couple of days to achieve that.  


Costs:
My cost to make these 5 jars was under R20 (US$3) per jar, a lot better than paying R56 (US$8) for it from the supermarket.


Variations:
If you intend on using the tomatoes mostly in salads, a good tip is to add 2-3 cups of red wine vinegar to the oil mixture.  This creates more of a vinaigrette than just an oil, and is delicious drizzled over salad.


The other variation I do is to add one finely chopped and deseeded chilli to each jar, which gives it a nice spicy zing!! 




Enjoy the tomatoes and the cost saving
They also make the most amazing hand-home made gifts!!