Topic: Oh boy when I dive in it always seem to be head first

[Jeannine]

We have an auction house down the road from us,and we get some pretty great bargains in there so we always check out the online list for the week. We get everything from furniture to canned foods, If for eg a shop goes belly up.

A little while ago I saw one lot was described as  " About 10 boxes of Sun Dried Tomatoes". My daughter said she would go look,, she phoned and  said there was one box on the top loose for folks to look at,,, everything seemed well, it was a known expensive packeted brand and well within it's sell by date, so I told my daughter to bid but not much..in the shop this brand costs between $4 and $5  so I said no more than $20 for the whole lot.. She got them for $10... then she went to pick them up and they said they would bring them to her car... Tt wasn't " about 10 boxes"   The boxes were wholesale crates and there was 16 and each one had 24 packets in it. They arrived at the car on a palette and a half.

So any ideas we haven't had yet....I am running out of recipes. LOL

XX Jeannine

[Deb P]

That would be funny if it did not involve so much hard work for you!! Barter with your neighbours perhaps?

[daveyboi]

My only thoughts after considering this is are there any soup kitchens or food banks in your area which I am sure would welcome some as a donation.

Or a local swap for materials for your shawls.

Sorry I can't come up with anything better.

[galina]

My only thoughts after considering this is are there any soup kitchens or food banks in your area which I am sure would welcome some as a donation.

Or a local swap for materials for your shawls.

Sorry I can't come up with anything better.

That was my thought too.

There are differences between fully dry, semi dry and semi dry in oil.  Fully dry should store for a very long time, the others could perhaps be frozen before their date runs out?   

[Jeannine]

We have shared with neighbors and sent offered them to the 2 soup kitchens but they say they don't use them in any of their soup recipes. We did send 1 case to the local food bank with instructions to let us know if they want more. But we still have a huge pile.

I have invented a smashing sun dried tomato bread with rosemary and parmesan cheese in it which is very good but doesn't use much.

They are the fully dried kind by the way.

I am going to have a go and re hydrating a heap then making a mega sized pot of  chilli and another of spaghetti sauce but I also have a glut of fresh tomatoes too.

Plodding on..still laughing.

recipes invited

XX Jeannine

[galina]

They are the fully dried kind by the way.

I am going to have a go and re hydrating a heap then making a mega sized pot of  chilli and another of spaghetti sauce but I also have a glut of fresh tomatoes too.

Plodding on..still laughing.

recipes invited

XX Jeannine

One of my recipes with the fully dried ones is tomato sauce.  I use half a pint of tomatoes (cut into strips, loosely packed, not pressed down at all) and fill up with boiling water at the start cooking dinner.  Leave to stand for about half an hour, whilst doing the veg prep etc.  Then blitz in the food processor and add to fried mince, onion and garlic.  This is a good alternative for the usual tin of tomatoes and tomato concentrate from a tube that normally goes into a bolognese type sauce, when no fresh tomatoes are available. 

It is a question of personal taste (but we like it a lot) and that is the above sauce with a heaped tablespoon of peanut butter.  We fry off bits of meat in a large frying pan (Dutch oven), then add this sauce on top.  I usually add vegetables too, for example chunks of courgette or chard stems with the fried meat before the sauce goes on top.  Potatoes could go in too or indeed just about any leftover veg.  As peanut butter thickens sauces, the water content needs to be watched.  A gentle simmer for about a quarter of an hour or a bit longer (not critical) after the peanut/tomato sauce went in (with the lid on) and dinner is served.

That what I use dried tomatoes for.    

[pumkinlover]

I bought some dried tomatoes when had  run out of my own bottled ones, but they were REALLY salty.
Do you find this?

[galina]

A recipe from our wholefood shop
http://www.dailybread.co.uk/wholefood-recipes-and-products/88-recipes

Recipes

Sunflower &
Brazil Pate

Take:
50g sunflower seeds, soaked
for 15 minutes
1 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs water
50g brazils, soaked
25g sun dried tomatoes,
soaked
1 tbs minced celery
1 tbs minced onion
1 tbs diced fresh parsley
To Do:
Drain the sunflower seeds.
Put the lemon juice, water,
sunflower seeds, brazils and
tomatoes into a blender and
whizz for a couple of minutes.
Stir in celery, onion and
parsley. Salt to taste. Use as a
dip for crudities or on
crackers. Delicious!
TIP
You can also use this lovely
pate on salads or added on
top of a baked potato or with
falafel.
 
Pumpkinlover, I was just trying to check the salt content of ours online when I stumbled across this recipe for Jeannine.  They don't appear to be very salty. 

Just checked the packet, the only ingredient listed is tomatoes.

[Melbourne12]

I bought some dried tomatoes when had  run out of my own bottled ones, but they were REALLY salty.
Do you find this?

According to the USDA database, sub-dried tomatoes contain only 0.272% salt.  The ones packed in oil are higher at 0.676%, but I wouldn't expect anything less than 2% to taste at all salty.

Ah, just found a reference to salting of tomatoes prior to drying to preserve them, as an alternative to sulphur dioxide.  Apparently the salt content can be as high as 6%!

That's quite interesting, because if you were using them in breadmaking, you'd need to make allowance in your salt content if you had salty dried tomatoes, but not if you had the unsalted kind.

[pumkinlover]

It does say salt in the list of ingredients. I thought that maybe they sprinkle them with salt to help the drying process. Just  tasted one again and they just of salt.
So as you say M12 I don't need to add any salt when using them, they are only added in small quantities so don't  spoil anything. Anyway I've got a good crop this year so won't need to buy again for a while. Maybe it was a one-off!
 

[Jeannine]

Well I managed to use up a whole heap a couple of days ago.. I made a sort of chili..loads of fresh toms from the freezer plus the dried one all minced up small, they absorbed a lot of the tomato juice from the fresh ones, lots of onion and minced beef, the usual spices etc and all the assorted dried beans I had  in the cupboard which was a lot, there were scarlet runners,red kidney, white navy beans, black eyed beans ( bought not grown)a few cans of baked beans, I don't like those and as I am not feeding John they were taking up space. Anyway it worked, I cooked it the electric roaster that takes a 23 lb turkey and holds 25 quarts and it was half an inch from the top..well an odd chili but good and I have 29 packets in the freezer now...

Thank you for the recipes,, trying another one this next week.

XX Jeannine