Tomato pesto

While we are waiting for renewed growth, it is time for preserves, and one of the best are tomatoes from last summer, salted and dried in the sun for a couple of days, before being stored away in a dark cupboard, and taken out whenever a dish could do with a massive injection of warm summerdays.

Just before Christmas I receive an sms from Italy telling me that now is the time to put the tomatoes sott’olio, so they have been given a boil and covered in home grown olive oil along with a clove of garlic and a spring of mint. Amazingly simple.

The same goes for this tomato pesto, which makes great company for a plate of fusilli pasta. A true life saver with a hungry family and an empty fridge.

Ingredients
2 handfuls of dried tomatoes
1 dl olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp lightly roasted pinoli (pine seeds)
1 clove of garlic
2 tbsp grated parmesan
Salt and pepper
Chopped parsley

Preparation
If the tomatoes are very dry, they should be softened in boiling water for a couple of minutes. Dried tomatoes in oil should be drained.
Liquidize garlic with olive oil and lemon juice in a blender
Add tomatoes and blend to a runny pure
Thicken the paste with pinoli and parmesan till you have got a perfect consistency
Add pepper and salt to taste, but be careful: Dried tomatoes can be rather salty.
Sprinkle with chopped parsley and roasted pinoli.