Pasta Salad Recipe – Eggplant & Sun Dried Tomatoes – GialloZafferano
Pasta Salad Recipe
Eggplant & Sun Dried Tomatoes
GialloZafferano
This is a Wonderful and Unique Pasta Salad recipe from our friends at GialloZafferano or Yellow Saffron in English. Hope you enjoy this one as much as we have. It truly is a Great Recipe!!!
For those of us that are new to the sun dried tomato phenomenon our families from Southern Italy have been making them for centuries.
![](http://dev.everybodylovesitalian.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Tomatoes-Sun-Dried.jpg)
Sun-dried tomatoes are ripe tomatoes that lose most of their water content after spending a majority of their drying time in the sun. These tomatoes are usually pre-treated with sulfur dioxide or salt before being placed in the sun in order to improve quality. Typically, tomatoes spend 4–10 days in the sun in order for the sun-drying process to be complete. Cherry types of tomatoes will lose 88 % of their initial (fresh) weight, while larger tomatoes can lose up to 93% during the process. As a result, it takes anywhere from 8 to 14 kilos of fresh tomatoes to make a single kilo of sun-dried tomatoes.
![](http://dev.everybodylovesitalian.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Tomatoes-Sun-Dried-3.jpg)
After the procedure, the tomato fruits will keep their nutritional value. The tomatoes are high in lycopene, antioxidants, and vitamin C. The final products may contain up to 2–6% of salt and could provide a significant contribution to the day’s intake. Sun-dried tomatoes can be used in a wide variety of recipes and come in a variety of shapes, colors, and tomatoes. Traditionally, they were made from dried red plum tomatoes, but they can be purchased in yellow varieties. Sun-dried tomatoes are also available in the form of pastes or purées.
![](http://dev.everybodylovesitalian.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Tomatoes-Sun-Dried-2.jpg)
Sun-dried tomatoes may also be preserved in olive oil, along with other ingredients such as rosemary, basil, dried paprika, and garlic.
Excellent video