Tomatoes, home dried and bottled in oil are delicious. The drying process takes 12 hours but concentrates the flavours.

Ingredients

• 1 kilogram ripe tomatoes, halved
• 3 tablespoons flaky salt
• 2 teaspoons dried marjoram
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1¼ cups olive oil (extra virgin is nice)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 100ºC. Line a shallow-sided baking tray with baking paper.
2. Gently scoop out and discuard the seed sacks from the tomato halves. Place the halves, cut side up on the prepared tray. Sprinkle with salt, marjoram and basil evenly over the tomatoes and season well with ground pepper.
3. Place into the preheated oven for 12 hours. The salt will draw the water from the tomatoes so don't panic if you see the centre of the tomatoes fill up with liquid; it will evaporate during the 12 hours. The tomatoes will look shriveled but should remain soft. If you want them completely dry and almost chewy, continue to cook a further 2-4 hours.
4. Open the door, turn off the oven and allow the tomatoes to cool. When cool, layer with the bay leaves, black peppercorns and olive oil into a 1 litre-capacity jar. Seal and store in the refrigerator for 1 week to allow the flavours to mingle before using.