Dried Tomatoes

Someone gave me a huge bag of dried tomatoes. I don't have any experience using them. What are the typical uses and ways of preparing them for use?

Rehydrate them whenever you want bursts of intense, sugar-concentrated tomato flavor: pastas, salads, pizzas, etc.

to rehydrate I place them in a small saucepan of cold water, bring to the boil, and remove from heat for 10-12 minutes...the idea is to get them really softened-up

then chop/mince

Make yourself a cold pasta salad with some sort of nice fusili noodles, a balsamic vinaigrette, black olives, feta cheese, fresh spinach, maybe some green onion or sweet onion and the rehydrated dried tomatoes. Yum! --Joy

That sounds great!

I use dried tomatoes without rehydrating them (as long as they're not crunchy). I usually saute them with olive oil and whatever else I am in the mood for: garlic, onions, spinach, mushrooms; any combination really. They are sweet and savory and add a nice chew to each bite, especially with pasta. If you type in 'dried tomatoes' on epicurious.com, I bet you'll come up with lots of ideas. I also put them whole onto sandwiches (most usually in the winter when there are only those hard, pink rocks in the grocery store that are not worth buying). One of my favorite sandwiches is proscuitto, fresh mozzarella, & dried tomatoes. Oh, and some artichoke hearts if I'm lucky!

I just tossed some into a hot bowl of cream of tomato soup. Quite nice.