Too many tomatoes for eating fresh but not enough for passata making yet, so it’s sun drying time. We have a dehydrator but often low tech is easiest. A dark coloured enamel plate with a dark tinted pyrex pie plate in the sun. Halved cherry tomatoes and some sprigs of basil, oregano, thyme. Easy peasy. These ones will go on pizza – sourdough base with olives, goat cheese and pesto – in the woodfired oven, for a neighbourhood dinner party in our driveway this weekend.
The dashboard of the car, parked in the sun, has been a favourite for sun drying in the past. (Our car is well and truly old enough to have gassed off all the new car vapours). But I’m quite liking this strategy of a small amount every few days, when the tomato pick gets ahead of me. Whatever the term is for the opposite of economies of scale, there’s something to be said for it.
I do it with baking too – halve the recipe rather than double it, make two pita breads each morning for the kid’s lunches, use up the last couple of passionfruit to make 6 little Passionfruit Cheesecake slices for lunchbox treats, make a little batch of pumpkin scones with the couple of pieces of leftover roast pumpkin, while the sun is shining and power is a-wasting, or while the oven is still hot from the dinner roast. They will be eaten fresh and small batches take so little time or effort, there’s no procrastinating. You can use up little bits of leftovers or small amounts of excess crops without feeling like you’ve got to clear the decks for a baking day. Small and slow solutions.
