My Herby Sundried Tomatoes are one of my staple recipes. I love cherry tomatoes so much that I always have loads of them on hand. Sometimes, I over buy and don’t eat them fast enough, but that is never a problem with this recipe. This is a recipe that was brought into my repertoire so I could live in a perpetual state of cherry tomato gluttony, and I have zero shame in that.

I tend to use the fresh and dried ones the same way, tossing them literally into everything (salads, soups, sandwiches, eggs, etc.) and it’s a nice change when the fresh tomatoes I had been enjoying suddenly morph into the dried version – yielding a deeper, richer, smokier version of the fresh. You can further heighten the flavor by adding fresh herbs and other spices.

This is essentially how the idea came to pass – let a little salt melt over the oven dried tomatoes so I could put them on everything.

Even though I live by the coast and, thus, not prime tomato growing land, it’s super-hot just a few miles off. So technically I am totally surrounded (on 3 sides) by prime tomato farms, and we are currently just getting into the peak season.

Tomatoes like it hot. This is how they develop their flavors, which are a combination of the sugar content, soils, air, environment and the seeds. Generally speaking, the less commercially grown the tomatoes are the better they taste. Around these parts we have loads of small growers (most of us do, you just might have to look harder in other parts of the country or grow them yourself). They offer a gamut of choices when it comes to varietals, flavors and shapes, which means this time of year I am in heaven. Small, local growers tend to choose tomato varietals based on flavor over shelf life and yields. This is good news for me and my summer cherry tomato obsession.

Actually the obsession is year-round, and thanks to (literally) just a handful of large commercial producers (Del Cabo is my favorite), we have those options, too. If you want to read more about breeding cherry tomatoes, here’s an article I wrote about Del Cabo a few years back for a produce industry trade site, Breeding Cherry Tomatoes for Flavor. These guys are my top choice most of the year, and I buy them by the case several times of year to always have them on hand.

I posted the recipe for my Herby Oven-dried Tomatoes back in April when I was overindulging in the imported cherry tomatoes from Del Cabo, grown on the southern tip of Baja California in a fair-trade organic farmer cooperative. The basic premise of the recipe is what I use all the time, but I always change it up in terms of herbs, spices, lemon zest and sometimes olive oil. Though, omitting the oil is crucial if you are going to eventually also make the salt included here.

There is no way to do the salt recipe without first making a version of oven-dried tomatoes. The store-bought dried ones are too dry, and oil-packed dried tomatoes are too wet.

It’s important to note that technically the dried tomato of portion of this recipe isn’t a fully dried shelf stable-version. I store them in my fridge in a jar or in a little bowl on my counter if I’m going to use them up quickly. The nice part about the recipe is that you get to decide how soft and juicy you want them to be. There is a sweet spot where the juice turns to paste. That’s the moment where they are perfect for me and also perfect to make this salt recipe.

Eventually with this recipe a new technique in my salt-making adventure was made, involving flavoring and coloring the salt with a paste-like liquid – in this case, the oven-dried tomatoes. I use my favorite hand maceration technique by rubbing a few of the oven-dried tomatoes with the salt, extracting the paste and mashing it all up into the salt, rubbing in the color and the flavor.

Once I have the salt flavored and colored, then I move on to make the salt by adding lemon zest and basil and then baking it in the oven to dry off the moisture and the tiny bits of the oven dried tomatoes I used to macerate the salt.

The end result is a beautiful smoky-ish tomato salt with bits of the oven-dried tomato and basil with a hint of lemon zest. Oven-dried tomatoes yield a smoky flavor and so the final salt is a bit smoky seeming, making it a very deep and rich salt. This salt is important to cook a little longer than most of my others so that the dried tomato bits get totally dried.

This salt (and the dried tomatoes) are great to have handy. I’ve been tossing them into my favorite eggs, a caprese salad, pasta salad and even on a grilled cheese sandwich. But the star recipes born from this first batch – Avgolemono (Egg & Lemon Soup) with Spinach and Smoky Tomato Basil Stuffed Zucchini Boats were the stand outs!

Smoky Tomato Basil Salt

Makes 1 ½ cup salt and 2 cups Dried Tomatoes

The recipe will give you extra oven-dried cherry tomatoes, but I suspect that won’t be an issue! It’s important to make sure you cook all the tiny tomato bits left in the final salt fully. Feel free to use any herbs while making oven-dried tomatoes, and use any color or shape cherry tomato. Don’t forget to place all the cut cherry tomatoes flesh side up when baking them. Add more chilies to make it spicy!

Ingredients

For the dried tomatoes:
2 pints cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon Maldon salt
¼ cup finely chopped fresh parsley, basil and oregano

For the salt:
1 ½ cups Maldon salt
6-10 oven dried tomatoes
¾ cup finely chopped basil leaves
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 teaspoons red chili flakes (optional)

Directions

For the oven-dried tomatoes:
Pre-heat the oven to 250° F.

Cut all of the cherry tomatoes in half and place them cut side up on a lined baking sheet. Sprinkle the salt all over the top, followed by the herbs and lemon zest. Place in the oven for 2.5 hours until they are just about fully dried, leaving some soft aspects to them, but most parts of them dry. Turn off the oven and allow to cool completely. (Store extra tomatoes a container with a lid in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks.)

For the salt:
Pre-heat the oven to 225° F.

Place the salt in a large bowl and using your fingers, pulverize the tomatoes into the salt. Basically, you will be grinding the tomatoes so that they break up into little tiny piece and squirt all their paste out, which you will then mix and rub all into the salt. You will know when you are done because all the tomatoes will be in tiny bits and pieces with no paste left inside and all of the white salt will be reddish color.

Add the basil, zest and chili flakes (if you are using them) and mix until well combined. Place on a lined baking sheet (parchment paper) and lay out flat. Bake for about 28 minutes or until all the tomato bits are fully dried. Cool completely and store in a jar or on a bowl on your counter.

Avgolemono (Egg & Lemon Soup) with Spinach

Makes 12 cups

For many, soup doesn’t seem summery unless it’s a gazpacho or some sort of chilled soup. For those of us who live in cooler summer climates, like me in Bolinas, soup can be on the menu most days. On the day I made the Smoky Tomato Basil Salt, it was exceptionally foggy, damp and a little cold here in Bolinas. For whatever reason, I began to crave this Greek soup and wanted to use the new salt in it.

Avgolemono is technically a Greek sauce made of lemons, eggs and chicken stock that’s become a soup, often made with both chicken and spinach. I had a version once on the island of Zakynthos that utilized the herbs of the island, fennel and fennel fronds in the traditional soup. The version had chicken bits in it and globs of orzo pasta. It was incredibly herbaceous, fresh, lemony, filling and the silky texture felt deeply luscious on my tongue. My version is my best recollection of that, plus I add the Smoky Tomato Salt to the chicken thighs for roasting and as a finishing salt giving it a tough deep smokiness that I really enjoyed.

I don’t believe in stock and believe (and have proven) that you can make tasty and rich soups rather quickly. The herbs, vegetables and the roasted chicken easily create enough flavor for this soup.

The one difficult part of this recipe is in the tempering of the eggs, but actually tempering eggs is quite easy, especially in soup. The key is not to boil the egg mixture, so for soups I turn off the burner and let the soup thicken in the meandering warmth.

Ingredients

For the roasted chicken:
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon lemon juice
3 chicken thighs
Smoky Tomato Basil Salt

For the soup:
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2-3 green onions, finely chopped
1 medium head of fennel sliced thin
1 teaspoon Smoky Tomato Basil Salt
¼ cup finely chopped parsley leaves
¼ cup finely chopped fennel fronds
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
1 medium yellow zucchini, chopped into bite-sized pieces
3 cups finely chopped fresh spinach
6-8 cups water
1 cup orzo pasta
3 eggs
Juice of 2 lemons

Directions

For the roasted chicken:
Preheat oven to 380° F.

Mix together the lemon zest, olive oil and lemon juice in a bowl. Season the chicken thighs with the salt and then place on a baking sheet. Drizzle the marinade on both sides of the chicken, making sure to use it all up. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked and a bit caramelized around the edges. Cool. Then shred into bite-sized pieces.

For the soup:
Combine the oil, garlic and green onions in a soup pan and bring to medium heat. Add the fennel and a teaspoon of Smoky Tomato Basil Salt and sauté until the fennel is soft. Add the chicken, parsley, fennel fronds, chives and zucchini and continue to sauté, adding another teaspoon of the salt as you stir and cook. Add the spinach and sauté until the spinach is wilted. Add the water and bring to a boil. Reduce the temperature to low, add the orzo and let cook for about 20 minutes. Bring up to a boil once again  and then turn the burner off.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and the lemon juice. Add some of the broth to the egg mixture, ¼ cup at a time and whisking, to temper it, I add a total of about 1 – 1 ½ cups. Once the eggs are tempered, add them to your soup, stirring constantly and letting it thicken. Place a lid over the soup and let it sit for about 10 minutes before serving. This soup is best served warm.

Garnish with some of the Smoky Tomato Basil Salt and a few more fennel fronds, a slice of lemon if you want an even fancier look.

Smoky Tomato Basil Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Serves 4

This year I have two zucchini plants, and my zucchini production is somewhat manageable. Last year I had four and was overwhelmed completely while realizing how many zucchini recipes don’t actually use much zucchini, basically rendering them all useless as a means to put the overabundance of zucchini so many of us gardeners face in the summer.

I have since been on a quest to make zucchini recipes that actually use a good amount of zucchini while still remaining enjoyable and not zucchini overload. This recipe is that and it’s so good that even if you don’t grow your own zucchini you will want to buy it to make the recipe. It’s super easy to put together, feels kind of special and is technically one of those carb-free recipes people are craving these days! The Smoky Tomato Basil Salt is exceptional in it and on it!

I like to have more boat than the average recipes so I cut about ¼ of the top of the zucchini off. This gives more space for stuffing and since I use all the zucchini innards and the top, I feel like it’s the best win-win method.

*You can also make wheels with gigantic zucchini you may have missed in the garden!

 Ingredients

6-8 medium sized zucchini, yellow or green
Smoky Tomato Basil Salt
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3-5 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons lemon zest
½ teaspoon red chili flakes
¼ cup chopped red onion
3- 4 cups roughly chopped fresh spinach
1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
Juice of 1 lemon
3/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
¾ cup finely chopped basil leaves
¾ cup finely chopped oven dried tomatoes
¾ cup finely grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon cold butter, chopped fine

Directions

Cut the zucchini to make them into boats. Cut off the top ¼ of the top of the zucchini lengthwise. Chop up the tops finely and set them aside to use in the stuffing. Scoop out the center of the zucchinis using a melon baller or a small spoon. It’s basically like cleaning out the seedy insides from a cucumber. Place the zucchini boats in a baking dish and sprinkle a little of the Smoky Tomato Basil Salt over them. Chop up the zucchini insides finely and set aside.

Combine the oil, garlic, lemon zest and red chili flakes in a large sauté pan and bring to medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until everything is soft.  Add the spinach and the tomatoes and continue to cook until the spinach is soft and the tomatoes begin to melt and extract liquid. Add about 1 teaspoon of the tomato salt and lemon juice, as well as the chopped zucchini tops and insides. Place a cover on and simmer for about 10 minutes until everything is cooked down. Turn off the heat and let cool a bit.

Preheat oven to 375° F.

In the meantime, mix together the basil, oven dried tomatoes and parmesan with 1 teaspoon tomato salt.

Toss the feta into the stuffing mixture and fill the boats up evenly. Sprinkle the parmesan basil mixture all over the tops, followed by the cold butter pieces. Place in the oven and bake for 45-60 minutes until the zucchini boats are tender and the topping crispy. You may need to cover your dish with foil the last 10 minutes if the tops start to get too brown.