Original recipe of the week: Golden sunblush tomatoes

Use this recipe to help bring back the golden sun or to simply add a delicious touch to your pizza or pasta dish. Sunblush tomatoes are simply ripe, preserved tomatoes which have either been dried in the sun, or more commonly now, in the oven and are often preserved with olive oil, salt, pepper, basil, oregano and paprika.

Sun drying takes a lot longer to produce and you are often left with a much drier product at the end of it. I like my dried tomatoes to still be juicy and flavourful; tomatoes come in all shapes, sizes and colours, so why not experiment.

Golden sunblush tomatoes

Serves 2-4

What you will need:

1 punnet of tomatoes

2tbsp rock salt flakes

100ml of olive oil

2tbsp dried basil

2tbsp dried oregano

1tbsp black pepper

A deep oven tray

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180c on the fan setting and chop your tomatoes to a desired size and shape.
2. Place the tomatoes in the tray and cover with the olive oil. Next, add the dry ingredients one at a time, being careful to distribute evenly over all the tomatoes.
3. Give this all a little mix and place in the oven for about 45 minutes.
4. When deliciously caramelised, remove from the oven and leave to sit for about 5 minutes before serving.
5. If kept in an air-tight container covered in olive oil they will keep for up to two weeks!

Bethany Stone